A/N: Read on to find out if your guesses are right! Sorry this took so long; my Internet connection broke down (and still is broken down). This is a bit of an experiment, I hope it works! If it does I promise to get the next chapters ready faster.
Davita - I love my enthusiastic readers! ;) Don't worry, as I said before, I have a penchant for happy endings so it's a bit predictable. Me Myself and I - I must thank you. You have discovered my deepest, most darkest secret. I don't use Grammar Check. I hate it. ;) *shrinks* Why are YOU complaining? You've got the next chapter much sooner than anyone else! Celestial Princess - Why thank you. Here 'tis! Linz - good guess .. VERY good guess .. how did so many people figure it out? I thought I hid it better than that! About the betareading, I think I'm OK for now, but I'll email you once I get used to the constant (but helpful!) criticism. Jamari - *Bows* Thank you. Eugenia - I will be emailing you very, very soon. RingWraith - *mouth falls open* You're kidding, right? ;) I emailed you. Cya!
On with the story!
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DEATH ANGEL
"Is he going to be all right?" were the first words out of Hermione's mouth as Ron's still body was laid out on a hospital-wing bed.
Madame Pomfrey glanced irritably at her, lifting Ron's wrist to take his blood pressure. "I'm going to do my best, young lady."
You'd think she'd know my name after all the times Harry and I've been in the hospital wing, Hermione thought grumpily.
Harry hadn't said anything in a long time. He was staring at Ron's white face in a pained kind of stupor. "Ron," he whispered, shaking Ron's shoulder, "Ron, wake up!"
Madame Pomfrey looked angrily over her shoulder at him. "Leave him alone, please!" she snapped at him. "That's not going to help!"
Harry backed silently away from Ron, his eyes paralyzed, and Hermione felt a rush of anger at the nurse. Don't be so hard on him! she thought, he's just lost his best friend!
The door to the infirmary was burst open yet again, and Dumbledore stood there, his eyes betraying his alarm. "Pomfrey," he said, sweeping over to Ron's bedside, "how is he?"
"I don't know," she said, and Dumbledore looked at her in surprise.
"I don't know what the cause is at all!" she said helplessly. "He's just fine - there's no signs of a bruise to his head that might have caused unconsciousness, there's nothing in his windpipe that might have cut off his air supply, there's no signs of internal injury or external injury at all .. there's nothing wrong with him at all."
Harry, Hermione, and Dumbledore all stared at her.
She threw up her hands and said weakly, "I don't know, Albus!"
Yet again, the door banged open and there stood Dean, who was supporting Lystra. Lystra looked weakly up and when she caught sight of Ron's body, she let out a scream and hurled herself from Dean's arms.
"Ron!" she sobbed, grabbing Ron's hand and clutching it as if it was her only lifeline. "Ron, my poor Ronniekins!"
"Lystra.." said Dumbledore quietly, and Lystra looked up at him almost reluctantly, "I understand you two were on a date. What happened to Ron?"
Lystra let out a fresh sob and wailed, "I don't know! We were just w-walking along the l-lake, and he was about to say s-something but he just collapsed! I don't k-know w-why, I j-just stared at him and r-ran for h-help!"
Dumbledore nodded once, slowly. "I see," he said.
Hermione stared at Lystra. She had wiped the lipstick smudge off her face and was staring at Ron, her lower lip trembling. Do I believe her? she wondered. She does look pretty broken up - but why would Ron just collapse like that? There's something funny with her story..
"Come on, Lystra," Dumbledore said abruptly, coming forward and helping Lystra to her feet. "Come with me, to my office. I need to talk to you."
Lystra followed him, sniffling, and cast one terrified look backward as they left the infirmary.
For the third time, the door banged open. But this time, there stood Lavender, framed in the doorway and looking quite small and fragile.
"Wha - what's going on?" she said in a small voice.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then parted to reveal Ron, lying motionless on the hospital bed.
Lavender just stood there, frozen for a few seconds that stretched into years. Then a funny half-sob escaped her throat, and in a flash, she was kneeling at Ron's side, tears streaming down her face.
Madame Pomfrey, showing the first inkling of human decency Hermione had yet seen in her, did not shoo her away.
She did, however, shoo Harry and Hermione out. "Go on! Out!" she said. "I need to examine this boy at length!"
She pushed them outside the infirmary and shut the door.
It was a long time before either of them moved.
"Harry," Hermione said gently, touching his arm.
He didn't say anything, just stared down at the floor, tears watering in the corners of his eyes.
Hermione felt a rush of pity for him, worried about losing his best friend . . . like so many others in his life who had left him.
"Don't worry, Harry," she said. "Ron'll be OK. He's a tough guy. He'll pull through this, whatever it is."
"I guess so," said Harry at last.
They stood in silence for a few more moments, and then Hermione made one of the biggest mistakes she had ever made in her life.
"I guess maybe now he'll be more careful about being alone with Lystra," she said.
Harry jerked his head up and looked at her with fury suddenly in his eyes. "Why are you blaming this on her?" he yelled, with an abrupt intensity that scared Hermione nearly out of her skin. "Didn't you see her back there?" he waved an arm at the closed door of the infirmary. "She was terrified! For Ron!"
"So maybe she's a good actor!" Hermione said, her pity for him beginning to dissolve as anger at his shortsightedness replaced it.
"Why the hell would she want to kill Ron?!"
"Don't ask me!" Hermione yelled. "For all we know, she's a Death Eater in disguise and she's planning to murder us next! Haven't you noticed the holes in her story?!"
"What holes?!"
"Well, for one, she comes from Durmstrang, and she doesn't have a trace of an accent!"
"She explained that! She said her parents live here, they just sent her there 'cause they didn't like Hogwarts!" Harry defended.
"I checked the Durmstrang enrollment list, Harry! There's no trace of anyone named Lystra Riddle!" Hermione screamed.
"And what made you do that?" Harry folded his arms. "Why are you so suspicious of her? She never did a thing to you!"
"I just -" Hermione stuttered, unable to find words in her rage. "I just- I just don't like her!"
"This is bull," Harry muttered, brushing past her. "I don't know what I thought I ever saw in you, but whatever it is, it's gone now."
"Fine!" Hermione yelled, fury blazing through her. "It's not like you're a wonder to be with all the time! Go find yourself one of your fan club members. I'm sure there's some leggy seventh year that'll suit you just fine."
"Well, thanks for the suggestion!" Harry yelled, and strode away down the corridor and out of sight.
Hermione stayed where she was, anger buring her cheeks red, for a long time. Then she stalked towards the common room, half-hoping to find Harry there so they could have another screaming match, but when she got there, the common room was empty.
*
In the morning, Hermione avoided Harry and sat with Parvati at the opposite end of the table. The absence of Ron, however, was more noticable than ever, and there was sobered conversation for the entire meal.
Lystra was also missing, though Hermione wasn't too sad about that. Her fight with Harry last night had clinched it for her: she was now sure Lystra was up to something. Why else would her spine tingle whenever she looked at her?..
Rumors ran wild, unchecked throughout the school about Ron's attack. Since no one but Lystra knew exactly what had happened (and she wasn't showing her face) there was no one to squelch the rumors, and they got progressively bigger and weirder. Some Ravenclaw girl even claimed to have heard Ron scream just before Lystra stumbled into the Gryffindor common room - Hermione severely doubted this.
None of them, however, Hermione noticed, indicated Lystra as a suspect. Everyone loved Lystra (except Lavender, who was also missing). It was like a cloud being pulled over everyone's eyes when she was around.
*
Lystra stayed in her dormitory, pulling the hangings closed around her as a sign of sadness. She flopped upon the bed, fingering her black pearl ring and thinking about contacting Voldemort.
If she did, it would be merely to hear the sound of his voice; she had failed in her mission. She had not killed that red-haired fool; she had been interrupted, and had to start her acting early. What an annoyance. Still, merely a setback, and it had had its advantages: Potter and Granger had officially broken up.
Perhaps nearly killing the Weasley boy had served its purpose more effectively than killing him outright. She had been trained to think that killing was the best and only option, but maybe, she thought, this had had more of a pyschological effect - when their friend was just out of reach, alive but not able to talk to them, and when he might die any minute.
She would have to mention that to Voldemort.
*
Harry was there again; the Great Hall, facing a dead version of his body upon an altar, the sounds of uncontrolled weeping echoing throughout the Hall.
But this time, there was a second body there; Ron's. He was still and pale, and his lips and face were an odd greenish color.
"Oh, no, Ron!" Harry said, staring down at the twin bodies being laid out.
There was a particularly loud sob, and Harry turned to see Hermione again in her pajamas, tear-stricken. She threw herself on the steps to the altar and laid there, her shoulders shaking with sobs.
"Hermione!" he said again, knowing it was no use. And of course, it wasn't.
Wait a minute, thought Harry, if there's a dead Ron here, maybe there's another spirit-one like me that I could talk to!
But there was no Ron in sight.
What there was, of course, was Lystra: her low-cut green dress splattered with rusty color - dried blood. Harry gasped and took a step back. She was laughing evilly, and her lips were the same eerie green color as her dress. Weird lipstick, Harry thought feverishly.
And again, she knelt down by the dead Harry and touched the scar on its forehead .. bringing forth the Dark Lord, Voldemort, in a flash of bright light.
Together they raised their wands, their eyes both burning bright red. Again their voices joined in that eerie chant. But the lines were different ones this time:
"Her power gone with broken heart, She is soon to depart.."
"Friend of the foe - dead, murdered with the dark.."
Harry had no time to try and remember the words, to figure out what they meant, because Voldemort, his eyes flaming, was advancing. With a sweep of his wand he was destroying the mourners, one by one. Dumbledore was last to go; Harry saw with unbelieving eyes that he did not even look up as Voldemort roared the curse.
He had saved Hermione for last.
She was crying, and as Dumbledore had done, did not look up as the green burst of light rushed toward her.
"HERMIONE!" Harry screamed, running towards her as fast as he could.
But she was already lifeless, tear tracks cold on her cheeks. He felt his own eyes spill over with tears as he lifted her body and hugged her to him. "No, Hermione!" he heard himself cry, choked with sobs.
He was alone, cradling a lifeless Hermione in a Great Hall full of dead people in black robes. Lystra and Voldemort's laughter cut into his ears, making him scream.
And as usual, he did not remember the dream when he woke up, tangled in his blanket and tear-streaked.
*
Word of mouth traveled even faster, Hermione soon discovered, if it concerned the girlfriend status of Harry Potter. Once the arrow tipped to Available, the floodgates were opened and the race was on to win the heart of the Gryffindor Seeker before someone else did.
Wherever Hermione went, there were girls excitedly comparing nail polish, squealing over his Seeker stats, exchanging pictures cut out from the various articles about him in the Daily Prophet. It made Hermione sick to her stomach.
But despite all the enthusiastic efforts by several dozen girls, Hermione noticed that Harry went around with dark-ringed eyes and indifferent comments.
Lavender had not come down from the hospital wing. After school on Friday, Hermione came to visit Ron and discovered the blonde girl asleep in a chair next to Ron, her head tipping ever so slightly onto his motionless shoulder.
All in all, their happy little school was going down the drain.
And it was all Lystra's fault, Hermione thought bitterly. If she had never shown up, Hermione would still be with Harry, Lavender and Ron would still be together, and Ron wouldn't be lying still as death in the infirmary.
But with Lavender gone, Harry avoiding her eyes, and Ron lying like dead, Hermione was quite alone. She had never gotten along with Parvati, that glamour-obsessed knockout, and it wasn't helping that Parvati had joined the Harry-chasing crowd like so many others.
So she sat in a corner of the common room, quietly doing her homework, and didn't call attention to herself. The Weasley boys and Neville Longbottom came over to say hi once in a while, for old times' sake, but their presence didn't fill the void.
And Harry was taking things worse, it seemed; he was like a statue, cold and unresponsive. Dark circles ringed his eyes and Hermione got the feeling he hadn't gotten too much sleep in the last few days. When spoken to he might answer briefly if you were lucky.
The only time he ever spoke was to Lystra, to talk long in quiet tones with her - which quickly evaporated any pity Hermione might have been feeling for him. How nice - he was clinging closer to the one person who had been with Ron last, and he was making Hermione mad by talking to her alone.
Lystra, Hermione thought, her hand clenching around her quill and staining her hands with black, though she didn't notice. Lystra, that little... I'd like to have a word with her alone .. well, maybe not a word .. a punch would do it, right in the center of that perfect little pout...
OK, once I start daydreaming about punching Lystra's lights out, it's time to go to bed, Hermione told herself, and gathered up her books to leave.
Harry lingered longer in the common room, purposely not looking at Hermione as she left and pretending to be deep in conversation with Lystra.
Lystra, who'd been really nice to him since he and Hermione had broken up. And to tell the truth, he was beginning to get the same feeling as Hermione about her - there was something not quite right, somehow. But she was beautiful, and hanging on his every word, and there was no way he was going to admit Hermione was right about anything.
That know-it-all. How had he ever liked her? ..
Harry sat down and let out a particularly loud sigh. Whatever he tried to tell himself, he missed Hermione. And to make it worse, there wasn't even Ron to help him laugh at the dozens of followers that were dogging his every step since word got out he was single.
"What's wrong?" Lystra said concernedly, sitting down beside him and arranging her arms around him.
Harry shook his head mutely.
Lystra looked at him; then - very subtly - reached a graceful hand to smooth his hair.
Harry jerked under her touch - it was making him nervous lately, having other people touch him. Edgy, you're just being edgy 'cause she's so pretty, he told himself.
"Poor Harry," she whispered into his ear.
"Yeah," Harry said self-pityingly, slumping lower in the couch. "Lost my two best friends in the same night."
Lystra's hand stopped, but she kept her hand on his head as she said evenly, "Are you sure Hermione really was ever your best friend?"
Harry jerked away from her at this and she stared at him with dark turquoise eyes. "What are you saying?" he demanded.
"Well, I don't know," Lystra said slowly, keeping her eyes fixed on Harry's. "I mean, she's not really your type, is she? I didn't think you would fall in love with a bookworm like that. Makes you wonder if it was .. natural for you to like her like that."
Harry raised his head and looked at her. "What are you saying - that Hermione made a Love Potion and slipped it into my goblet or something? 'Cause that's exactly what Rita Skeeter said in her Daily Prophet article two years ago, and of course it's not true."
"Well, the problem is, if she did give you a Love Potion, you wouldn't remember taking it. If it was done right, you never suspect them anyway," Lystra said pointedly.
"That's not like Hermione," Harry said, not quite sure how to handle this latest turn of events. Lystra, accusing Hermione of Love Potions?
"Well, maybe," Lystra said, lowering her eyelashes.
They sat in silence for a few seconds, then Lystra shifted and put her hands around him.
"I didn't mean it, Harry. I just don't like her, somehow. I have a bad feeling about that girl."
"That's exactly what Hermione said about you," Harry said. His mind was spinning.
"She did, eh?" Lystra's grip on him tightened. "Well, never mind her. Come on Harry, let's forget her for a second. Tell me, have you ever kissed a girl before?"
*
Hermione lay on her bed, trying to think of anything else but how much she hated Lystra. Her hands involuntarily clenched whenever she thought of her.
In annoyance, she noticed that there was a faint glow coming from Lystra's bedside table. She must've left her wand on Lumos-spell, Hermione thought irritably. It shone through the darkness of the dorm like a beacon.
She could stand it no longer. She got up, pushed the covers aside, and in her pajamas shuffled over to Lystra's bedside table.
The glow seemed to be coming from a ring, a ring that she had seen Lystra wear many times. One with an odd black pearl on it. She'd never known it glowed before, however.
Hermione picked it up to try and figure out how to turn the glow off. It was oddly cold to the touch, and shone gently in her palm.
There didn't seem to be a button or anything to turn the glow on and off, so Hermione brought it close to her face for a better look. Maybe if she cleaned it .. she breathed on it for moisture, then wiped it clean with her sleeve.
There was something appearing inside the pearl ring .. Hermione squinted at it, trying to decipher it...
And as the image grew clearer - into a cruel, white face with slanting red eyes - she let out a scream and hurled it across the room.
Voldemort!
His tinny voice began to shriek from the pearl. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut, thinking of the memories that sound brought back. Voldemort - the sick freak that was after her Harry!
It wouldn't stop talking! She stomped down at it with the heel of her foot. The pearl, however, remained intact. The little tiny image inside it stayed perfectly clear.
Suddenly, Hermione froze in mid-stomp. What did this mean? It meant Lystra was an agent of Voldemort's! And she was downstairs alone in the common room with Harry this very instant!
Hermione lifted her foot off the ring and stood for a second. Then, as curious voices began to emerge from the beds around her, she bent, grabbed the pearl ring and turned and bolted out the door.
*
Lystra leaned invitingly close to him, so close he could smell her perfume - an oddly familiar, sweet smell, that he could not place.
Their foreheads touched, and Harry stared deep into her teal eyes - framed by such long eyelashes, and perfectly slanted.
Then her lips moved close to his, and he breathed deep in her smell.. What was that smell?
Her lips brushed his -
"HARRY!"
Lystra and Harry jumped apart.
Hermione, in white pajamas, was rushing down the stairs, stumbling in her panic and taking them two at a time. "Harry, don't do it!" she screamed again.
"Hermione?" Harry said in disbelief. "What are you do-, oh, man.."
He was struck by a sudden wave of drowsiness and didn't finish his sentence. There was something odd going on .. he was lightheaded, his lips felt funny. A tingle.
Hermione rushed forward and grabbed his shoulder. "Harry! Are you all right? What did she do?!"
"Nothing," Harry mumbled. He was falling into a wave of sleepiness.
Hermione let out a scream as Harry slumped back against the couch, unconscious.
Lystra had jumped up and was staring at Hermione with anger blazing in her eyes. "You -" she hissed, her eyes flaming red. "You interrupted me!"
Hermione grabbed the limp Harry under the arms and dragged him out of the couch, away from Lystra's reach. "You work for Voldemort!" she spat.
"So you finally figured it out," said Lystra, towering over her. Her lips were pulled back in a grimace - her lips!
They were green, a vivid, bright, poisonous green that caught Hermione's eyes and held them transfixed, staring.
Harry's lips were the same color, though duller. Hermione had a sudden vision of her first sight of Ron at the lake after his and Lystra's date; his lips were mottled green just like that. . she'd thought it was a reflection from the lakewater ..
Following her gaze, and seeing the horrified expression on Hermione's face, Lystra threw back her head and laughed.
"I am a creation of Lord Voldemort," she snarled contemptuously. "My body is beautiful - my skills are numerous - and my lips are poison."
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That was fun to write! Next chapter coming soon! I promise! ~CM
