5th Year Part Ten: Chapter 28
"There are no beautiful surfaces without a terrible depth."
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
~.O.~
It was during the aftermath of Fred and George's departure from Hogwarts, finally having decided that school was simply not for them when their joke shop was well on it's way to becoming a reality, that Harry experienced a severe pain within his forehead. A pain like no other that he had experienced emanating from his scar that brought him to his knees in the middle of a cheering crowd, paying him no attention at all. Except the caramel colored eyes that have always seemed to watch his every move, taking him in her arms as he writhed upon the sharp cobblestones that he called home.
"Tell me where the prophecy is, Black." His own lips formed the command to a bound Sirius, on his knees before him looking as defiant as ever. "The Department of Mysteries has long hoarded prophecies within it's walls, I know it is here."
Harry's godfather laughed even through the split lip he boasted, blood dripping down his chin and onto the shiny reflective stone of the marble floor in which his knees rested upon, "The Order has hidden it, I do not know where it is. Regardless, I would not tell anyone least of all you where it were located even if I were on the brink of death."
His head cocked to the side as an utterly delighted sounding laugh rattled through his vocal cords, he began to turn to his right, showcasing a long darkened room filled with hundreds of thousands of glowing orbs holding a roiling mist inside them. He walked away from Sirius, just up to a mirror that exhibited a very familiar looking face with blue eyes and dark as night coiffed hair. Voldemort's healthily red human- like lips so different than Harry had previously imagined prior to the night of the last Triwizard Tournament curled in amusement, "What would you do Harry Potter, if your godfather were on the brink of death, at mine and my Death Eater's mercy?"
Harry felt his entire body jerk as the monster who had killed his family spoke to him through the impossible mind link that they shared, controlling his own lips as he laughed in amusement at the thought of harming the only family the boy had left. "Would you allow him to be tortured for the location of a simple prophecy, one in which you could find as easily as if your wand were calling you from the bottom of the ocean?"
He turned back to Sirius' now horrified and tension filled body, "No, Harry- "
The Black family heir's words were cut off with a non-verbal silencing charm, a charm that neglected to mask the expression of intense pain that came from Voldemort's wand being pointed towards him.
"It is your choice Harry, a simple trading of prophecy for godfather. No more harm will come to you or yours for the time being, as long as you give me what is mine."
..
Hermione had strenuously argued against the thought of proceeding to the Department of Mysteries and willingly putting himself at the mercy of Voldemort, but for once, her legendary stubbornness was outweighed by Harry's thoughts of a suffering and captive Sirius. She had sighed in resignation, and at the very least recommended calling Grimmauld Place to inform the Order of their foolhardy actions in going themselves despite Harry's proclamations that they needed to sneak from the castle that very moment least Sirius be in the hands of the Death Eaters for any longer than necessary. As Dumbledore had been ousted from Hogwarts by way of the Ministry on a temporary leave pending hearing at the merest hint of scandal due to Marietta Edgecombe's accusations of an army boasting his name, they had to resort to using the only other available Floo Network available. In the new Headmistress' pink covered office as the gargoyle guarding Headmaster Dumbledore's would not open for the ministry no matter the fact that it was indeed that, an all- knowing and all- powerful governing body of the wizarding world who was in the middle of deposing the currently corrupt headmaster.
Hermione had been in charge of guarding the office while Harry, Ron, Luna, Neville, and Ginny each huddled inside for the call, while surreptitiously keeping an ear on the goings on to who answered the floo. The Marauder's Map having been in her school bag in her room she told them rather than not in the beaded bag she held around her chest, she said she would rather be caught by a professor than any of the others as she could talk herself out of the situation. As long as it were not the owner of the floo coming along. It being a known but un-acknowledged thing that Sirius often went into muggle London during the end of the week after being cooped up in his childhood home all those long days with only Remus and the occasional Order member as company, the Dark Lord had chosen this day with that piece of information in mind that Severus had given him. Alas, she was not a vigilant as she could have been while keeping an ear on Kreacher who had answered the call, and was caught very swiftly by Millicent Bulstrode of the Inquisitorial Squad while several others holding the prestigious title came around the corner. Headed by Umbridge herself.
She had been roughly thrown back into the office with an apologetic glance at the other startled students crowded around the rapidly fading flames of the floo, those of the Inquisitorial Squad just behind her. Millicent, Goyle, Crabb, and Draco who looked to her confused as to why exactly she was in this particular office, each grabbed hold of their arms at Umbridge's orders so as to not allow them access to their wands.
Severus was called once again to administer veritaserum, to which he replied he had no more as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had used the last drops on gaining intelligence on Dumbledore's Army. As he had turned around, Harry had his last hope of getting a message to Dumbledore as Kreacher was not likely to pass along anything told to him for dislike of anyone not confined within his former Mistress' portrait.
"He has Padfoot at the place it is hidden!" Harry yelled desperately at the dark professor' back, causing him to turn around with a raised eyebrow. Umbridge looking between the two dark headed men in confusion to which she expressed, and Severus shot down in ignorance.
At last, Hermione had to resort to last minute thoughts and measures to keep the nasty woman from using the cruciatus curse on Harry, noting Neville's extremely pale face and darting eyes in her direction that practically begged her to think of something that kept him from seeing the effects of that particular spell. Eventually, she held onto Harry's hand to keep him from tripping in the darkness of the Forbidden Forest in which she had led the pink woman to believe Dumbledore had hidden a secret weapon. She could see him glancing at her from the corner of her eye, his hand tightening within her's in question as to where exactly they were going once they passed a previously warded clearing of uprooted trees that held an innocently broken rope within the center. Wards that had prevented students from even going near the giant's clearing, but had no effect on Grawp as no magic had an effect with those of pure giant blood short of an incarcerous. She shook her head slightly, feeling Umbridge poke her lighted wand into her back. Finally, she crossed into the territory that housed the centaurs who did not take lightly to trespassers, much less ones who boasted their prestige within the ministry and insisted on calling them creatures of near human intelligence despite their larger numbers.
If anything, they had a much higher intelligence and learning than most humans due to their affinity with reading the stars… she had much more respect for them than she did most humans…
Hermione could not help but feel a deep sense of satisfaction at seeing Dolores Umbridge being dragged off deeper into the woods, pleading for help from the children she had scarred. The small girl now having peace of mind that she had punished the woman for committing all the atrocities against the students of Hogwarts, and presuming to touch what someone other than herself had claimed as rightfully hers. A certain sense spread throughout Hermione's body even knowing exactly what types of savagery a centaur herd would commit against a human woman. Although she knew centaurs were not considered Dark Creatures nor Light Creatures as they had no allegiance to any but their own, their beastiality could be mistaken for those of dark actions by humans who knew nothing of heard mentality. Much like how humans could never understand how a wild animal could eat it's own dead or ill young, it being the fruit of their own wombs being nothing compared to the honor it was to be eaten and sustain it's pack throughout inclimate conditions instead of simply letting it rot into the earth.
But even riding her slightly dark high, a stab of fear flowed through Hermione's body once the leader of the heard came to a stop just in front of her and Harry, two others with their bows drawn to the ground behind him.
"What business do you have within our woods, foal? Witch?" The leader looked to Harry, and then herself, acknowledging the fact that she was the older of the two and was therefore responsible for bringing an underaged boy within their territory. Although, Hermione never quite knew how they could tell when she looked exactly the age as she would have been if she had not used the time- turner and had her years increased to the age of adulthood.
Magorian
Hermione bowed her head respectfully, forcing Harry's down as well with her hand on the back of his neck before releasing him once more as she met Magorian's eyes. "We have brought you the woman who is responsible for many human laws restricting your kind's territory, as well as committing heinous acts against the foals of Hogwarts. All we ask is to leave the way we came, and never enter your territory without permission again."
Magorian studied the tiny girl witch that had given them a great gift, noting how her pupils slitted the longer she was in their presence. Obvious as it were that she herself did not consider herself fully human even as the Boy- Who- Lived that the stars spoke to them of clearly was.
"Very well," The centaur himself was now the one to bow, bestowing on Hermione the great honor of being recognized as somewhat of an equal by the leader of the herd. "We thank you for your gift, Witch."
..
Hermione had looked to the thestrals that Luna suggested they get to the Ministry on, with an apologetic look towards the curly haired girl, and balked at the heights they would no doubt have to fly to in order to remain unseen by muggles. Harry had offered for her to ride in front of him on his own, but she shook her head once she saw how small each of the ones that heeded their calls were, not wanting to weigh it down or injure it when they were doing them such a favor. She paused just before mounting her own pseudo pegasus- like creature as her wrist holding her charm bracelet warmed, scripting two simple words:
Be careful.
Quickly tapping her wand to the charm before gripping the theastral's surprisingly thick mane and wrapping her legs on either of it's sides, she sent a brief message back to him before following an increasingly agitated Harry who looked all too much older than he should.
Always. Delay Order for a while. Inform Tom and Lucius we are on our way.
..
Hermione observed the orbs of slowly churning vapor that had the potential to change, and have changed, so may lives due to the Fates blessing the right person with the gift of sight. Their small group having begun following Harry down the isles as he had informed them once they got further into the Room of Prophecy whispers of his name reached out to him in the midst of all these innocuous orbs containing such futures.
"I can hear it getting louder," Harry murmurs beside her, his wand held tightly to his side least Voldemort leap out beside him at any moment. As it was, he was rather jumpy at the thought that there should have been at least one Death Eater around to moniter them. Suddenly he jerked to a stop in the middle of an isle filled with orbs on either side of them, their tags all blank except the one in which Harry had his fingertips just grazing. The others behind her all made a pile up, not having seen Harry find the thing in which they needed and bumping into Hermione who stumbled forward into the dark headed boy.
Hermione hastily tries to say, "Maybe we shouldn't touch it yet, Harry." Not knowing how exactly the prophecy would work or what it held, she did not want to risk the boy finding out something he should not.
But she was too late, the full of his hand engulfing it and bringing it down to hold it in front of his chest. The once calm and serene mist held within the orb grew bright and blinding, filling up the entirety of the aisle around them while Harry fell into what she could only call a trance. His eyes fixated on the orb with severely dilated pupils, not at all noticing Hermione's hand waving in front of him as he no doubt was enamoured in the words emitting from the mist. She looked over her shoulder to Ron at a loss as to what to do, but all he had to offer was wide eyes and shrugged shoulders. Eventually Hermione tried to take the prophecy from the boy, but instead was sucked into a tube of black herself, seeing nothing and only hearing the prophecy made by Professor Trewlawney fifteen years ago.
Once she was again returned to the world of the seeing and hearing, Harry's pale cheeks and blank face graced her while Ron and the others gathered around them within the small hall asking what they had heard. Quickly taking it from him and carefully handling it she tells them, "We need to leave. I don't think Sirius was ever here, and I won't doubt that Death Eaters will be very soon if they aren't already watching us."
Grabbing Harry's hand who now looked more lost than ever knowing that if he had listened to Hermione, who knew all along that her objections would be futile in the face of the proof his only remaining family had been captured, they would not be in the danger they were in. The prophecy he had freely allowed to to take from him did not help his continence at all either. But just as they all turned back to the end of the hallway they had entered the aisle in to retrace their steps within the maze that was the room they resided in, there was a small crack that echoed around them, freezing them in their steps.
Harry turned to look around them and determine where it came from while hissing at them to quiet their whispers, but as luck would have it, Lucius, Bellatrix, and two other robed Death Eaters materialized before them within a black smoke. Blocking them in a square of robed figures and prophecies. Quickly grabbing Hermione who had somehow ended up in front of him, Harry pushed her between him and Ron who grabbed her waist tightly. But alas, it was too late to hide the orb clutched tightly in her hand, all the while her heart and body pounding with pent up adrenaline.
At last Tom would have what he desires… but what would he do with it once he had it within his possession?
Luna grabbed her free hand tightly, to while she then clung to as Lucius held out his gloved hand towards them. "Miss. Granger," he drawled in his deep voice not at all like Severus' but just as nice to listen to, "If you would be so kind as to hand me the prophecy, and we will be on our way." Harry took a step forward along with Hermione's own involuntary movement out of the other's grasps that was from years of obeying orders in the tone of voice Lucius had just used, the blonde looking towards her friend. "Just the girl moves, and then you will be on your way as well."
"No, Hermione." Harry whispers back to her, moving further to shield her body with his wand raised as if he could take four wizards so much more learned than himself, even if he did fall the Dark Lord by no technical fault of his own so many years ago. He did not see the shadows moving in between the gaps in the aisles beside them.
"Get ready to run," she had whispered before moving forward once more, knowing that he would pass the message along to the others behind him.
Hermione stood still for a moment behind Harry before shaking off the hands gripping her from all sides who sought to hold her back, and haltingly walked towards the bonde man as several other Death Eaters clad in their robes and bone masks materialized from their shadows. The soft light from the orbs around them caused the white as the sun masks to stand out against the darkness, making an altogether most frightening scene as Hermione knew not one of the Death Eaters outside of Lucius knew of her true loyalties. If Bellatrix, who was becoming more and more agitated by how long the exchange was taking, decided to fire a curse into their small group of students only he stood to make sure Tom's orders of no fatal harm was upheld.
"Hurry up, Mudblood!" The pure- blood witch sneered at her, raising her wand, "We do not have all day. The Dark Lord awaits his prize."
"Enough, Bella." Lucius hissed over his own shoulder, his hand still outstretched towards Hermione who suddenly paused just in the middle of the two groups.
The words of the prophecy Tom had allowed to rule his life and eventually be his downfall echoed through her mind in full…
The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…
Everything Hermione had done since her second year at Hogwarts had been to keep Harry alive and safe, but the concerns she had harbored all throughout the year returned to the forefront of her mind at this most important moment. One of her greatest fears just on the brink of the day. That Tom would not uphold his end of their deal once he held this so incriminating prophecy in his greedy hands… She had not thought this day would come this soon, the day that she would have to choose between the two of her other most important loves in the world interests.
And with an impulsiveness that Hermione had never indulged in her life, she made a decision that could be the end to them all as she completely disregarded any thought as to the outcome of her decision. At this same time, Bellatrix also made a decision that would most certainly mean the end to her own life, and give Hermione the cover she most desperately needed to save herself.
Madame Lestrange suddenly let out an ear splitting shriek, "This is growing tiresome! Give us the prophecy, girl!"
Lucius turned to his sister- in- law, a sneer painting his lips just as the dark woman fired a spell into the crowd behind Hermione in her impatience, just as she had predicted, that set off the next chain of events of the most harrowing night. Hermione caught Lucius' eyes, locking them with her own as everyone from both sides of the dark and light began throwing lightening curses, spells, and charms both ways all around with the two of them as the center of it all. Deliberately raising her arm in the midst of the chaos, she releases the orb to smash it on the floor between them, his eyes growing wide in confusion and fear at her single handed actions in destroying what Tom had searched for all the year long. Gone in a second, just like Cedric. The smoke that released from it was lost within the scrambling feet and bright spells, and yet Bellatrix somehow realized what exactly had happened and shrieked even louder than before.
Bringing up her finger to her lips in the universal sign of say nothing, Hermione desperately hoped he would be able to would know how to redirect the Dark Lord's no doubt impending fury towards Bellatrix. That he had not seen how the orb had become simply pieces of glass and fog upon the floor once Bellatrix began the duel that then took place with the children. She had every hope in his own Occlumency shields though, as well as his loyalties to those he loved above all else. He nodded his head before turning back to Bella, grabbing her around the waist to bodily pull her away from their failed mission, but not in time to redirect her wand from where it had been pointed as an opaque fog covered their fields of vision.
Hermione looked up to the shelves containing years of prophecies, and let out a large burst of magic towards the orbs just as she was simultaneously pulled back by a familiar pair of hands, as well as pushed from the front by a blindly fired purple colored curse.
The last thing she saw before succumbing to unconsciousness upon the floor of the Department of Mysteries, was a boy with wide green eyes almost as large as the glasses that framed them.
"Hermione!"
~.O.~
Hogwarts, Iron Gate
Dumbledore was once again occupying the formal title of Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, rather than his records currently reading that he was on voluntary sabbatical. Due to the unfortunate events surrounding Dolores Umbridge's unknown tryst into the Forbidden Forest and sequential run in with territoritoral centaurs who cared not one bit for those who worked within the Ministry, the majority of the Board of Governers that had been roused at this late hour ruled in favor of his reinstatement. Lucius Malfoy not being one of them as he seemed to be out of the country on family business, but it was no matter. Hogwarts needed a Head, and Professor McGonagall simply insisted on the older man's return rather than taking up the temporary title of Headmistress at this pressing point in time. This moment in time having to deal with several students missing from their beds in their respective houses of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, as well as having word from Severus that the Order must be notified and sent to the Department of Mysteries immediately.
"Severus," Dumbledore asked the dark man who had his eyes fixated in the distance beyond the gate, not even deigning to meet the Headmaster's eyes and instead simply making a small questioning noise in the back of his throat in acknowledgement of the other man. Dumbledore frowned, "Tell me again how you know the Gryffindors and Ms. Lovegood had snuck out of the school, and met intended to meet Voldemort."
Severus finally turned around to meet his master's eyes, thinking on the story him and Hermione had hashed out before this night, with obviously a few alterations as the night went on. "Miss. Granger, ever Potter's babysitter and keeper had the forethought in sending out a Patronus charm to explain that Potter and his merry band of miscreants were on their way to the ministry. That Potter had been sent a vision from the Dark Lord that Black had been captured, and would be returned in exchange for a prophecy within the Department of Mysteries." Severus' brow raised, making it seem as if he had no idea where the orb in question was being held before this night and how exactly that information came to light. He was simply grateful for the minute distraction from his worry from Hermione, his love who should have sent him a message the second her and the other students were in the safe hands of Order members.
The lines between Dumbledore's eyebrows deepened, "And why did she send this message to you?"
Severus looked at him blankly, drily saying, "I had assumed she meant the message to be relayed to the first professor the patronus came across as I was on my rounds about the castle when I received the message."
Once again, the Headmaster opened his bearded mouth to ask yet another question on the girl, but was interrupted by the barking of a black dog that had suddenly come bounding up out of the darkness surrounding the woods. The older man had never seen someone's head whip around so fast as the Potion Master's that night, his wand already in the air and unlocking the heavy iron gate to admit those of the Order that had picked up the children from the Ministry. Nor had he ever seen someone walk so fast as to be just on the brink of running and yet not have it called that once each of them saw a curly headed figure being levitated at the forefront of the group. Albus had to admit, the other man's teaching robes made quite the majestic figure while being splayed out in such a way behind him.
As Severus came closer to the girl who was being levitated by Lupin, who should have known better than to do so without knowing which spell she had been cursed with, he himself cursed most foully beneath his breath once he saw the cause of her cries and nonsense words. Blood saturated her shirt from collarbone to hip, a gaping wound with tentacles of black veins already creeping up her neck and the visible skin of her chest that could be seen. To which the sight gave Severus the feeling of his heart dropping to the deepest bowels of the earth when she let out a wail of pain, the children within the circle of Order members watch wincing at the now- too familiar noise.
"Drop her," He barked at the werewolf, giving cause to several wide- eyed looks from those within the Order as well as the students who had all had eyes fixated on the bleeding and crying girl. When Lupin hesitated, he once more repeated himself with significantly more vitriol as he slid his arms beneath her floating body to just grazing her in preparation of the drop, "Drop her, Lupin. As a former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, you should be aware the affect outside magic can have on a body that has been afflicted with an unknown curse. I shall say it once more. Drop. Her."
Hermione, whose body had since felt as if it were being dipped into fire at the same time as an ice bath, opened her eyes once she heard her precious love's voice garbling through her muddled brain. Severus, she tried mouthing as her eyes sluggishly attempted to blink out the blurred spots in front of her eyes, but found she could not speak as well as she thought she could despite the easy cries and screams that escaped her mouth from time to time. Her voice long since simply rasping the sounds as opposed to the screaming that it sounded within her ears, moving alongside her loud heartbeat. Using the last of her strength, she shot her arm out to grab the closest length of fabric from the black shape emitting Severus' low voice, finally clearing her throat into scratchy whispered words.
"It hurts," she whimpered to Severus who had finally been allowed to fully wrap his arms around the wounded girl, feeling her miniscule weight within his arms as he continued up to the castle at the highest speed he could without jostling her body too much. Ron was then left to be supported by Ginny and Neville to make sure he didn't run off in his magical octopus brain influenced high to which he still had purple sucker marks covering his face and neck as Harry and Luna followed closely behind Severus. Harry was close enough to hear their small interaction once they were once again within Hogwarts grounds, "Make it stop, Severus. Please," Hermione continued talking as if drawing strength from Severus to stay awake even as she felt she could fall asleep forever. "It hurts so bad."
The boy glanced at Luna, who herself did not seem surprised at the other girl's familiar use of the professor's name but instead grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly to silently convey that Hermione would be perfectly fine.
"I will make it stop," Professor Snape told the girl, ignoring Minerva's outstretched arms ready to take her cub to the infirmary herself as Hermione was suddenly seized with the thought that he would, for some undeniable reason or another, leave her to her pain alone.
"Don't leave me," she cried, cheek digging into his snake embossed frock buttons. "Please, don't ever leave me."
"I will not leave you, my girl. I promise."
All the while, Harry says nothing in the wake of this absolutely mind fuck of a revelation regarding his best friend and, previously, most hated professor. Although, as he watched Hermione sleep to make sure her chest kept on inflating right back up after exhaling, he was not all that surprised to find that his previous suspicions were correct. His sister did indeed have the same depth of feeling towards the dark man as he had towards her.
..
Hermione lay in a magically induced coma prescribed by Severus who had not allowed even Madame Pomfrey to work her healing magic upon the dark curse causing fiery pain across the small girl's chest. Whether it was from his heightened sense of knowledge regarding the subject or he did not trust anyone other than himself to heal her, she did not deign to hazard a guess. She simply wanted the never ending pain to lessen even a little bit so that she could think anything other than…
By the gods… How did it come to this? Is it penance for the things she had orchestrated that led to a boy with beautiful kind grey eyes to be gone from this world forever… for the things she would undoubtedly be subjected to do in the future and be the creator of? But how could the gods fault her for her infinite love for the three men she held in higher regard than she could ever hold herself?
As Severus had lain her upon the small cot within the Hospital Wing just feet away from the beaten and battered former Headmistress, he told her of his intentions as she descended into a sort of delirium, and just before she fell into a dream like state acting out a story her mother had once told her when she was a child, her eyes blurred everything into obscurity. Into a state of something of a fever dream. Two heads of black becoming one, panicked green eyes and calm reassuring black seeming as if they had merged into a resemblance of a dark devoted blue.
"Tom," she had whispered so low as those two men who had morphed into one had never heard the name, and only what she said next, "Please don't leave me. I am sorry."
Harry, don't leave me…
Severus…
And then, she fell into her story dream that she had not heard for more than ten years. A story dream that allowed Hermione to think that maybe, her mother herself had a touch of magical Seer blood for how close her favorite childhood story was to her life now.
..
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful maiden named Anei. One day, as her parents watched her from their little seaside cottage, she ventured further down the white beach than her parents had thus far allowed her to go. She had always loved the sea in which she had grown up beside, with all it's white fine sand that had a tendency to smuggle into her thin shoes she more than often abandoned beside her parents to keep an eye on. She especially loved high tide when the roiling blue waves would splash powerfully over her feet and calves, trying it's best to knock her over in vain before she quickly dug her feet into the sand so as to beat it. Sometimes though, she would deliberately let it win, laughing when her dress would get soaked with sea water from the waist down and cause it to stiffen.
It was one such day that while she laughed at how powerful Mother Nature could be when, as she got back up to her feet to continue her game with the playful sea, that as she dug her feet into the sand once more she was aware of a stranger watching her from the treeline. Although Anei called him a stranger, it was more that his physical appearance was as unfamiliar to her as the people within the village who she never saw very often asher and her parents lived on the very outskirts of the village that was a mile away through the forest, no one venturing this far away due to the salt water being undrinkable. But they relied on rainwater that was more that enough for just the three of them.
Now, this man had come to their home to watch the couple's precious only child play with the waves she loved so much, with his head cocked to the side in a familiar yet unfamiliar way. Only to startle him as she trustingly, with the innocence only a child could muster up, approached him just to say hello to the only other person from the village she had seen in weeks other than the occasional couple coming to the beach for a midnight tryst.
This man's name was Tihomir, and he wasn't the most talkative of people, so he continued to stare as the small girl as she smiled at him in welcome to her home. As Anei looked up to him in silence, fearless in all her little glory, she studied his handsome face waiting for him to say something. Perhaps why he had decided to watch her play in the waves with such abandon as he had never known before, even when he himself was a child. Moments passed that felt like an eternity to the two people caught up in their own little world. Then, at exactly the same moment, they smiled at one another, and that was the start of their lives together.
Years later, as Anei cradled her and Tihomir's first little beloved babe in her arms, and feeling warmth encasing her heart with golden tendrils of love, she looked up into her husband's dark eyes with her own caramel ones, and asked him if it was fate that had brought them together only to give them such happiness as she felt in that moment.
He smiled a secret smile, and indulged in his love's woes.
Know this though, this is not the end of their love story- these two strangers living out their days in peace beside the coast's edge. Anei's innocent use of the word fate bringing up memories of many lives past they had lived together, and would continue to live together until the world ended in ash or ice never to be reborn again.
We all start out as strangers in life as these two had, but their souls had always recognized each other when reincarnated throughout the ages even if the people's meat suit were unknown to one another. The mated soul bound by unseen tendrils of magic would always find a way back to one another, no matter time or circumstance.
It was simply the will of the Fates.
..
Hermione woke hours after Severus had induced her sleep, her chest feeling much more cool and yet still sore and slightly painful when she moved her hand to hold Severus' who had fallen asleep by her side. She fell back into a peaceful sleep once more to dreams, the story of the Fates and how alike she was to Anei all those years ago and Severus to Tihomir.
Could the story have had some truth to it? That certain people's souls were so entwined with those of who they have loved in so many lifetimes, that nothing could break them apart? Soulmates… what a wonderous thing to imagine… never being ripped from their one true love…
She then woke the next day, grey light shining through the Hospital Wing's windows that signified the early hour. She heard Harry's low voice beside her, although it seemed as if her ears were slightly clogged no doubt due to the potions Severus had to force down her throat making her thoughts and senses fuzzy once again.
"I'm am sorry, Professor." Harry told the man who had yet to let go of Hermione's hand which lay in plain view of anyone who would chance a check- in on the girl. The green eyed boy had simply glanced once to their touching hands and said not a word of them before apologizing to the professor in a low tone so as to not wake his injured friend, in vain though it was. "I am sorry for sticking my nose into your pensive, I had no right to do that and I can only hope you will forgive me. I know that they were extremely private, and something you had not wished for others to see without your explicit permission."
Severus held a blank expression on his face for the duration of the boy's apology, thinking all the while that at least Hermione had impressed the right way in which to word certain things on the boy. That apparently all her years of beating manners into her two dunderheaded friends was not completely useless at least on this one. His face softened slightly as he felt the now awake Hermione squeeze the tips of his fingers, all she had the strength to do in her weakened body at the present time. He nodded to the other boy, turning back to meet Hermione's drooped but open eyes.
Harry too turned to his friend, surprised to find her awake already and looking to the dark circles beneath his own tired eyes, thinking all the while that he finally looked like the man he was now acting. He skirted around to the other side of the bed, her eyes following as he grabbed her other hand, two of her beloved men protecting and keeping her afloat in the land of consciousness on either side of her.
"Hi, 'Mione." He whispered, carefully brushing a wild curl from her eyes where it had fallen as she looked to him. "I am glad you are awake even if you should still be resting."
She smiled tiredly at his sweetness, "Hi, Harry."
~.O.~
Hermione sat in front of a soft eyed Dark Lord, Nagini curled around her comfortably warm as his eyes traced the new purple addition to her chest that peaked out from her low cut robes, her skin all together still too sensitive to be covered by even a thin layer of cotton. She wished she could be rid of robes all together, but that would not at all be proper outside of her and Severus' rooms. Only weeks healed, the curse she had been gifted with was mostly healed, the black poison veins that had crept across the majority of her torso being banished all together with Severus' superb efforts. Although, he told her that it would never fade from the dark purple it was at this point in time, the extent of the curse having initially been fatal but due to the redirected and distracted caster, she had lived to deal with the wounds. Hermione welcomed the lingering pain if it meant not causing the agony her death surely would have of all the friends and family that loved her.
Tom had been very patient with her, reigning in his impatience and curiosity that came with Lucius' account of the night within the Department of Mysteries even as she could tell he was just as anxious about her well being as bursting at the seams to learn what the prophecy had foretold. He had spent enough time wondering Hermione decided, and despite his obvious care for her well- being, she had to ensure Harry's as well, and uphold Lucius' account of that night if they were to escape Tom learned they had lied and betrayed him.
All to save Harry… for Harry who was in the most danger out of them all if he were to earn of the truth…
Tom had sat beside her, his fingers trail lightly on the edge of the wound while she hissed in slight pain, feeling Severus stir in the corner from where he watched them, "You are well now, my girl? Severus has taken good care of you?"
His worried eyes meeting hers, she smiled softly, grabbing his hand to keep it from moving it deeper beneath her robe along the purple line as she had an inkling he was itching to do so. "I am well now, my Lord. A few more weeks and I will be free of this lingering pain." Her hand came up to brush his cheek, his eyes fluttering closed and then open once more with a sigh. His eyes had floated into the distance for a moment, reminding Hermione of the time when he had first told her of the existence of his Horcruxes. She wondered if the broken and blackened remains of the once golden chalice boasting the Helga Hufflepuff badger on the corner desk of his rooms had held a piece of his soul. As he had yet to inform her which objects were indeed his Horcruxes just yet until they were at a point to begin restoring them all to his body, she could only speculate that these sojurn's into foggy thoughtfulness were due to pieces of his soul being re-joined to the one currently residing within him, once having been imprisoned within his teenage diary.
"Now," he came back to himself once more, shaking his head slightly with slightly downturned lips once he met mer eyes once more, "Lucius has told me of his observations that night within the Ministry, but you were the one to have been cursed. Will you tell me if Lucius was correct in saying Bellatrix was indeed the one to curse you?"
Hermione met Lucius' pale eyes that held her's from where he stood beside Severus, her mind drifting much like the man in front of her had just moments ago to their brief meeting when she had arrived at Malfoy Manor.
"Everything that you have done, and will do, has been to protect Draco and Narcissa, Lucius." Her eyes pleaded with him to understand why she had destroyed the prophecy as Severus walked the dark halls to inform Tom that they have arrived, "Can you understand that I have done what I thought necessary to protect everyone I love as well? Not simply for selfish reasons and a want to betray the Dark Lord?"
To protect Harry as well as Tom… and her belief in his goodness, to take away the one thing that might have shattered her belief in him forever… killed them all…
The Malfoy family patriarch grabbed her up in a gentle hug, mindful of her still healing wounds no matter how he wanted to hold onto her and convey in silence that he understood completely why she has chosen as she did. That she has protected those she irrevocably loved even from their own selves, not simply speaking of the Potter boy and his oldest friend, but of their Dark Master as well. Hermione noticed another anxious looking blonde so much like his father waiting for his own reassuring hug from his friend just down the way Severus had left, as well as the boy's mother who smiled at her sadly.
Lucius whispered in her ear, "I do what I have to to protect those who I love as well, Hermione, and I have considered you as a part of my family now ever since the first day Severus brought you here to meet me and Narcissa. You need only ask for my help, and it will be given to you."
Hermione's eyes watered, winding her arms as tight as her scar would allow on the larger man before releasing him to greet Draco and Narcissa who had only last heard she was within the infirmary due to a dark curse. But as she let loose of Narcissa from the soft hug the older woman had given her, Hermione entered the room in which Tom and Severus waited for her in confusion. The Malfoy mother having grasped her hands with teary eyes, absolving her of anything she felt the need to do, granting her forgiveness.
But now she knew as she answered Tom's assertion, "I am afraid that Azkaban simply has not done any favors to poor Bellatrix's mind, my Lord." And as so, she knowingly sentences the woman to death at the end of a green light, much like the end she had intended for her last living Black cousin and failed to execute due to Harry's last minute spell he told Hermione as she had lay in her hospital bed. "She lost her temper during the exchange, and began firing curses towards me. As I was confident in her following your orders of no harm to the Hogwarts students, I was caught off guard by one of her stray curses and dropped the prophecy once I was felled." Hermione's chin fell slightly, knowing as Tom already felt her pain as if it were his own, he would be more inclined to forget any anger towards her for being the one to allow the fragile thing to break. Hopefully redirecting any lingerings towards the death of Bellatrix to which she did not feel particularly remorseful about, and also being disinclined to preforming Legilimency to hear the prophecy for himself on such a weak girl he so loved.
"That is unfortunate, but no matter. She will be dealt with in due time." His eyes were once again on the brink of madness and drifting thoughts, and Hermione hurriedly spoke to bring him back to her.
"But now, would you like to know what the prophecy has foretold?"
His eyes turned greedy, the free hand that she still held within her own squeezing her fingers in anticipation. "Yes, I would very much, sweet girl."
She looked Tom in the eyes as she lied to him, telling him the exact wording of the long awaited prophecy he had allowed to once more rule his life, allowing her to put him on the exact path that she wished him to go on. With these words, Hermione would make sure his devotion to her was never put into jeopardy by any future actions he may go through with in regards to Harry. Although, Tom's previous words of immortality still weighed heavily in the back of her mind, would their immortality include Severus as well?
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him… but the Fates have marked him as the Dark Lord's equal in all magics…for the combining of their goals will bring about the end to all those who would defy those blessed magical creatures..."
Tom closed his eyes in pleasure at finally knowing what would ultimately be the end to his search of immortality, the last piece of the puzzle. His hands framed her face, allowing her to look into the blue eyes she so loved. "Thank you my sweet, sweet girl." He kissed her lightly on the lips before releasing her, "Take her home, Severus. I have much to prepare for before we steal the boy away from Dumbledore. Much, much planning for the stone, the cloak, and the wand." He smiled widely at Hermione with the whitest teeth, "We have much to prepare for, my girl, once you are well. Restoring one's soul is hard work, and you will be the one to keep me sane through it all."
All safe… Harry safe from death… Tom safe from his aims of obtaining power… her love for both Tom and Severus safe from everything that would harm it… for now…