"Which was the worst?", he askes, his eyes stare at the woman as if she would disappear at any moment, distant memories from another life. Hermione continues to stare at the strewn leaves before their feet, her eyes snap to the crackling fire as if a voice within was calling her name.
"Yours or mine?", she glances at the pale man somberly before slowly transfixing her eyes back to the makeshift campfire. Her soft brown orbs transform to rich caramels and bronzed honey as the fire's reflection dances across her eyes. Tom noticed that her eyes were blank of emotion as she continues to stare at their only source of light.
"Yours, I will handle the remembrance of mine," Tom says with curiosity. She laughs as her eyes began to dance with the swirls of flame keeping them alive in this frigid forest.
"I suppose it doesn't really matter," she whispers. Tom's hair stands on end at her dead voice and he can't help but quickly glance at Harry who was staring at the curly witch as if she was some fragile flower that would crumble within any moment, becoming some distant memory the two men would bitterly have to share, like some form of a brotherhood.
Tom was repulsed at the very idea. No this woman, albeit quite frail was very strong. She was a fighter, the kind that would fight with her teeth and nails ragged if found without a wand; it made Tom respect her even if he did despise the curly witch.
"Fire.", she whispers as she continued to stare at the hungry flame. The two men hold their breaths at her low words. "It was very painful, the Cruciatis spell but way worse. I presume because I felt my flesh peeling from my bones, the smell of my adipose tissue melting in the violent flame.", she reaches her finger to the fire as she continued. "The worse part, however, would be the suffocating and the screaming. It haunts me to this day" Her fingers lick the perimeter of the flames and the two men stare with very different reactions. Harry was horrified as he stared at her slowly blistering fingers; Tom's blue eyes remained glued to Hermione's apathetic caramel orbs. He was intrigued by this woman and he decided that maybe she was worth all the bloody trouble she's given him these past months. Yes, she was interesting without a doubt.
"It's was cleansing,however. I needed it. I needed to be remembered what was at stake.", she pulled her fingers from the fire before healing her red blistered hand nonverbally. She snaps her now cold brown eyes towards the men with avid clarity.
"Now it's time for you two to wake the hell up. Ready?" she taunts with once more undecipherable eyes.