Pain is Bitter
Chapter 17-[Pain is Bitter]
Draco drummed his fingers on the dash, then sat back in his seat, then drummed his fingers some more, then hummed a short tune, then rifled through come CDs, then looked out the window, then drummed his fingers…
"Listen, just relax, ok?" Mario said, glancing at Draco worriedly.
"Relax? My girlfriend could be in pain, or dead, or something worse," He added, thinking of the Dementors and Hermione's head tilted back as they drank her soul… "And you're telling me to relax?!" He was cracking under the pressure he felt about Hermione. If he didn't save her, who would? Is she was hurt, or died, it would be his fault, and his alone. He had to get to her.
"You've got to relax, or you won't be able to think up a proper strategy."
"Strategy?"
"Haven't you some sort of plot?"
"Plot?"
"What, are you planning on just barging in there and demanding that your man give her back?"
"Are you Irish?"
"Yes."
"How did I know that? Listen, I have my own… persuasive methods." Draco said, fingering his wand in his pocket.
" What? You going to offer him a cookie? 'Here Mr. Insane Psycho, you give me my girlfriend, and I'll give you this really yummy cookie!' Ha. Or have you a gun?"
"Neither. But I have something else that's just as persuasive…"
"Alright. But still… what happened? Who's got your girlfriend, and how did you get out in the middle of nowhere?"
"Some unidentified evil has got Hermione, and he's the same one who knocked me unconscious and dragged me out to the middle of nowhere."
"Well, he can't be too bad then."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, he could have just killed you couldn't he have?"
"I suppose…"
"So whatever he's doing to your girlfriend, at least he's probably not killing her."
"That doesn't matter! He's still going to Azkaban, the sick monster!"
"Azkaban? Well, anyway, I know he's still a 'sick monster', but at least Hermione will be ok."
"Maybe physically, but what about emotionally? Hermione is very delicate…"
"How so?"
"Well, she's had some… experiences, with her Mother dying and all that… she sort of went a bit crazy. Even now, she's a little scary at times."
"Right. Well, nothing that can't be cured with a few sessions with a psychologist, right?"
"I suppose."
"That's the spirit. Hey look, we're here!" Mario said. He pulled into the drive and they were sitting in front of the old house where Hermione had disappeared.
"Well."
"I guess…"
"We'll go in, I suppose." Draco said, jumping from the truck onto the dirt gravel of the drive. Mario jumped out behind him and followed him up to the porch. Draco pushed the door and it swung open with a creak.
"Huh." Mario said, as he followed Draco inside the dark, chilly old house.
Her Father walked in and Hermione lay down on the table without question. He strapped her down.
"You're becoming so good, Titania." He said. And it was true. Hermione had been nothing but submissive all day. She was broken. She was defeated. There wasn't any hope. Draco wasn't coming. Probably he'd gone off to find Pansy or something. Her Father rolled up her sleeve. "Make sure you stay still, Titania, I haven't got anymore sleeping pills left."
"I've been such a good girl, won't you call me Hermione?" Hermione asked. He looked at her doubtfully. "Please?" She added sweetly. Robert sighed.
"I suppose, Hermione." He said, smiling at her happiness. She wasn't happy because she had gotten him to call her by her real name so much as she was happy because she'd triumphed. She'd had a taste of victory, and she wanted more. A sparkle entered her eye.
"Daddy, I don't need the leather straps, I won't struggle, I promise." Her Father undid the straps smiling unthinkingly, delighted that she had called him 'Daddy'. Hermione smiled back at him… she'd escape, even if she had no help from Draco…
Draco and Mario had given up on the house and were now searching in the surrounding woods. They were both losing hope, and quickly.
"Maybe he moved her." Mario suggested.
"Maybe." Draco said, looking around him warily. He had the strangest feeling that they were being watched…
Hermione swallowed and closed her eyes tightly, praying for endurance as her Father carved the Konra into her arms slowly, going deep enough to leave a scar, but not deep enough that the blood showed up in anything but precise lines, ready to be transferred onto a white silk sheet.
"So, do you belong to some kind of cult?" She asked almost conversationally.
"No. The Book of Rilam has been around for centuries, it is the true religion. It began in ancient Egypt."
"I see."
"Titania introduced it to me, but I always had the stronger faith. If she had not been so reluctant, Rilam would not have taken her." Hermione worked to keep from vomiting. Monster.
"How did Mum get into it?"
"Well, she was a bit of a flower child, and she was into Wicca, and she progressed from Wicca to becoming a Rilami."
"Oh. So is Mr. Milligan really her cousin?"
"I suppose. He just showed up on the doorstep one day… I was lonely… I just didn't question him too much, I needed help with Stephen, I needed someone." Her Father stopped his work and his shoulders slumped as his eyes turned shiny in a second, giving Hermione a glimpse of the Father she knew. She felt guilty for not being there for him when he needed her…when Stephen needed her. Hermione felt a jolt of fear at the thought of Stephen.
"Daddy? Stephen…" She whispered. Her Father came out of his reverie and smiled.
"Stephen is sleeping over at his friends house, the little fellow Williams, I think." Hermione nodded weakly, a tear sliding down her cheek as the dreariness of her situation came down on her once again. She would probably end up dead, in some forest, her body rotting until some hunter and his dog found her… 'What a tragedy!' They would say. 'Mother and daughter, both brutally killed and left to decompose, and the poor Father and the little boy left all alone'… a sob escaped Hermione's throat.
Daughter:
You think I'll cry? I won't cry!
My heart will break before I cry!
I will go mad.
But Hermione cried.
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Draco and Mario got into the truck and Draco slammed his door in frustration.
"Whoa, man. Don't beat up the girl in frustration, it's not her fault!" Mario said, starting the truck.
"The girl?"
"Nellie here." Mario said, slapping the dashboard of the truck fondly. Draco smiled.
"I knew it was alive!" He said. Mario shook his head. What was the world coming to when people started thinking trucks were alive…?
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Hermione shut her eyes in humiliation, but she couldn't stop the tears that were flowing over her face, over her neck, over her shoulders, or the little hiccuping sobs. She heard a faint humming and opened her eyes, sniffing. Her Father was dancing in circles, chanting to himself 'musical sobs, musical sobs' over and over and over. Hermione sat up.
"Get out! Get out! I hate you! You're crazy! Get out!" She yelled hoarsely. Her Father smiled and continued dancing and chanting 'musical sobs, musical sobs'. Hermione's eyes were wide with terror and resentment and she was hyperventilating in between the huge, racking, wailing sobs that shook her entire body. Her head hurt, and her throat hurt, but most of all, her heart ached…
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Mario looked both ways indecisively.
"Which way should we go?" He asked Draco.
"I think we should both go separate ways." Draco said after a few minutes of contemplative silence.
"What? Are you crazy? There's only Nellie, one of us would have to walk, and it's the middle of the night. That man who has Hermione is crazy… he could hurt us…!"
"Mario, don't worry, I'll walk and you can keep…Nellie." Draco assured him.
"But you'll be all alone! If you find Hermione, what will you do?"
"I'll be fine! Remember, I have my own persuasive methods."
"But…"
"But no buts. I love Hermione, I'd do anything, risk anything for her. If I don't save her, no one will. If anything happened to her, I'd kill myself." Draco said in complete seriousness. Mario stared at him, stunned and in awe.
"You really would kill yourself, wouldn't you?" He said after a while. Draco opened the door and stood silhouetted in the darkness next to the truck. Mario looked down at him.
"Man, I wouldn't mind following that there girl around like a puppy so much if she was my soulmate." He said, twisting his earlier statement. Draco nodded in acknowledgement and started to walk off into the darkness.
"Draco… she is your soulmate. And soulmates always find each other." Mario called after him.
"Thanks mate!" Draco called back, tears glistening in his eyes as he watched the truck drive in the opposite direction. Maybe Muggles were good for something after all.
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Hermione was still sobbing when her Father tired of dancing and slipped out of the room. She was still hyperventilating to the point of hysteria. She couldn't control herself. Everything hurt so much, every pain she had ever felt was magnified by ten, both physical and emotional pain. The time her Mum yelled at her, the time that she broke her arm, the time she dropped her ice cream, the time her Mum died, the time Draco said the words, when he took her up on the broomstick, when she had attempted suicide, the dark place, the empty place, when she started cutting again and Draco barged in, when Snape told her she had to leave early, when Stephen didn't acknowledge her at the airport, when Draco told her he liked her better when she was suicidal, when she was cruel to Draco, when she found out the man was her Father, and know, when she succumbed to her pain once again, when she felt her weakness to it's fullest extent once again. She wanted the pain… again. She wanted death…now. Hermione opened her eyes and sobbing subsided to grieved whimpers as she searched the room frantically for an instrument to make it all go away, something that would kill her. And then she saw it, a heavy stone in the corner, probably something that had been dragged in from the tunnel. Hermione fell off the sacrificial altar and crawled towards it on her hands and knees, still whimpering. Her nose was running and her face was tearstained and red… she felt pathetic, but Draco wasn't coming… she gave another gasping sob… her hands closed around the smooth stone, heavy enough… all she had to do was hit herself in the head, and it would all go away…
"But love is pain, and pain is bitter…" Hermione whispered to herself. She lay down softly on the cold stone floor, still stroking the rock. She wanted it to end… but she felt something else within her… something that made her want to live. "Draco…" She whispered. Even if he wasn't coming to get her, here she sobbed again, she had to see him, she loved him more than she loved herself, so she would escape… to see Draco for one last time before she accepted the gift of escape that God had given her… suicide.
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Robert Granger sat in a well-lit room, sharpening a small scalpel. He counted on his fingers.
"I have her legs done, her arms… all that's left is her chest and her stomach." He smiled and went back to sharpening the scalpel. He stayed hunched over it under the fluorescent, clinical light for a few moments in silence until he looked up and made a little whimpering sound, then a louder sob, then another, before he laughed. He sounded just like Titania… just like Hermione. His women. Rilam's women.
"You're work shall be done Rilam." He whispered softly.
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Draco walked down the middle of the road; a tear making it's way lazily down his cheek, forgotten remnant of crying done minutes-that-felt-like-centuries ago. He wiped at it and clenched his fist. Where was he even going? Where was Hermione? How would he save her? It was so incredibly frustrating. He didn't know if he was getting any closer. He didn't know Hermione's state. He didn't know whether he was going to end up in hell or not, because this was all his fault!
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"Thank you." Hermione whispered into the nothingness that she knew awaited her. "I'm coming soon." She assured it… 'as soon as I see Draco.' She added to herself. Then she shut her eyes and succumbed to sleep, to sleep perchance to dream… the sweetest thing in the world…
TBC
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AN: Flamers, I haven't had any of you yet, but in case one of you evil people come by, I have an evil crazy stupid senile Killer monkey named Moomoo. I also have friends who own evil crazy stupid senile Killer monkeys named Mimi, Momo, and Memo, and we will not hesitate to set them on you if I hear so much as one uncalled for insult in your reviews. Hmmph. *strokes Moomoo*
Those lyrics were from Haunted by Poe, good song. Listen to with chapter for enhanced reading. I'm so amazingly blissed that you guys all love this story and want a sequel and think I'm a great writer! I hope you've been taking your anti-delusional pills, then again, who am I to argue with the compliment army…Thanks to Reviewers:
Icy Stormz- I'm busy too, which is why I'm taking so long to post chapters! I hate it! I hope you all forgive me, everything is so hectic!
Gwenevire- *cake smeared over face* Hey, monkey is a term of endearment! Hmmph. Glad you like the evil, though…
Christina- Heheh. Me, in the same sentence as 'great writer'. That's a good one.
allee kat- Thank-you so much! But, why is every one gone crazy? Why do you all think I can actually write halfway decent?
Chevira Lowe- I'M NEVER FORGIVING YOU, GO AWAY!!! *sobs hysterically* just joking! I love you for loving me and the story loves you for loving it, and my monkey Moomoo loves you because he's generally a very loving monkey… it's one big, happy love-fest! Heehee, love! We're like the Brady Bunch! *gags at self* Scared yet? *Evil cackle*
kristatwen- YAY! More written! Look up!
G*Ness- Double Yay! I know what you mean about evil computers, remember, mine deleted the entire suicide chapter!!! As if that chapter wasn't hard enough to write once, I had to write it twice! Die computer! *glares at computer and sets Moomoo the Killer Monkey on it* Friend Julia's computer ate ALL her files… entire stories! Monkeys of pain!
Evenstar Princess- Heheh, pleasant…? What is this word? (Don't worry, in later chapters or sequel, I hope)
ChibiFuu Malfoy- I know I've said before but I love your name! Especially because I love annoying the evil spell check on the evil computer! Yes, Draco Malfoy is the best thing in the world. Next to (in my opinion), my ever glorious boyfriend, Josef. But that's just me. Then again, most people haven't met Josef… *drools*
steele- Gush gush! *giggles delightedly* All these compliments! I'm so pleased!
IlUvDrAcOmAlFoY- I love that you all love it! Amazing and original, when will the compliments end?! I hope never!
Sucker For Romance- shocked! Yippee! I'm so happy! *does happy dance*
Just Chasing Dreams- *faints* Compliment overload!
Mione G- *squeaks* more… comp *gasp* liments…*gasp*
Lady Ann- *dying of compliments* Just… the … feeling…I…was…going…for…
firecat- sorry, am too…weak to think of… task for you… noble servant. Wait! Write up my will… leave everything to my… dog Pepi Thomas the Third and my… monkey Moomoo… *gasps again*
lolo- don't need to…kill…me…already *gasp* dying…*gasp*