LCA: that would be Puuurrfect!!! (if u still wanna be my beta-reader) :DDD
u really don't mind? Kool kool koooool!!!! Um, I'll send u the next chappie
then!
willowfairy!!: u came back!! :DDD HAPPy! Yaya. Dang it. *take's out a moldy tomatoed couch and hides behind it* I thought I could get rid of it...lol! THANX FOR DA REVIEW!!! :DDDDDDDDD
ShanaiLatoi: ugh...i can call it a chappie if I want, yo. Chill.
Natalie Garner: YAY!! Ur BACK!!! :DDDDD I better get this chappie out before u come and chase me around the computer until I upload! lol! *sees Nat getting ready to charge* AHH!!! *runs away, but comes back to write* THX for da REVIEWWW!!! YAAAYYYYY!!!! *runs away again*
Chrissy: WOW chrissy! Thx for da compliment! U likes it? U really do? :DDDDDDDDDDDD (save some D's for a happy smile! Lol) Welp, here's another chappie for now! THx for reviewing!!! *runs away, for no apparent reason* TTYL~!~!
Looy: yay! U likes? Thx a bunch!! Reviewers are the best! Go Looy! Go Looy!
AN: on a really cool note, I had TWO firedrills today during summer school. YAAAYY! GO whoever didn't like school and decided to pull the alarm! *cheers*
~*~
Light of Darkness
~*~
Draco had decided. He swiftly made his way from the couch, his steps assured.
~*~
"Harry..." Hermione started nervously, her eyes filling up with unshed tears. Dang it! Why was she so emotional? She rubbed one eye roughly with the back of her hand, took a deep breath and cleared her mind.
Harry could never compare with Draco.
She groaned at the thought. There was NO Draco. NONE. He didn't exist. He never had. He had probably played a cruel, sick joke on her, to humiliate Hermione emotionally, and turn his back on her. She wasn't going to be weak, and fall back in his arms, after all the pain he had caused her, after he had left her...
Frustrated, Hermione raked her hands through her bushy hair, trying to untangle the knots and curls and knarls in it, and trying to channel her sadness and her anger into the motion.
Her attention returned to Harry, who was still halfway behind the washroom door. (AN. Let's pretend there's a bathroom connected to the Gryffindor common room!) His hands were gripping the door hard, his knuckles turning white. He was watching her carefully from the corner of his eye. Hermione could see him; his green eyes pleading with her, gentle yet shy.
Unconsciously, she growled a little at the cute expression on his face.
Hermione quietly surveyed the other girl who was in the room. Ginny. She could tell by how the redhead's hands seemed to be covering her face that she was hiding her expression. Maybe Harry was too dense, but Hermione could see a crush as blatant as that. Sure, Ginny had tried to hide it in 5th year, but no other boy compared to HARRY.
Hermione closed her eyes, trying to calm her mutinous thoughts. Should she be Harry's girlfriend?
Should she?
Really?
Her mind said yes. This was her friend since 11 she was talking about! She had known him for 6 years already! She felt comfortable in his presence, felt a familiarity that soothed her when she was too nervous. But then again...her mind was numb as she turned to survey The Boy Who Lived once again, his dark hair a messy nest on top of his head, his glasses slightly askew and his scar glowing painfully in the moonlight...
An unknown feeling bubbled to through her heart.
BUT he was just SO SIMPLE! With him there would be no secret agenda, no horrible father, a less tortured past...Everything was blunt, out there, open...Hermione grinned at how deliciously simple it could be...
The brunette groaned wearily, rubbing her forehead in consternation.
Damn this all.
Why was this happening to her?
She knew, deep down inside her, inside the darkest pit of her heart, that she still might feel something for Draco...If she became Harry's girlfriend...then who knew when she might ever have a chance with the blonde again?
Hermione groaned, disgusted at her infatuation with the Head Boy. Forget about Draco. Forget him. She swept the swirling doubts from her mind, swept her concern, her fears, and her worries out. She gazed at Harry's loving face, his green eyes imploring her.
"Yes." Hermione said quietly, knowing full well the implications of her actions. She heard Harry and Ginny both inhale sharp breaths, but for opposite feelings. Harry's face lit up with joy, and he hugged Hermione hard. Ginny shot them a weak smile, although her eyes betrayed the pain that was tearing her up inside.
Hermione shot her a concerned glance when she saw Ginny raggedly wipe her eyes. Oblivious to everything, Harry bounced around.
"YES! YES!!" he cajoled joyously, flinging his fist in the air in exuberation, and missing Hermione's face by inches. He didn't seem to notice but continued prancing around the room, shouting. "HERmionE's MinnEE! HermIONe's MINE!!! Hermione's my GIRLFRieend!!"
~*~
Draco silently placed a tightly packaged letter on Hermione's pillow, bags under his sleepless eyes. An unknown weight began to pile on him, numbing him, dragging him from his decision.
He balled the fist at his side in determination.
~*~
MEANWHILE...
~*~
Limbo.
Snape floated in his subconscious, the darkness surrounding him, his body far away, his muted cries of pain only echoes to his ears. Here, nothing could harm him, and he remained comfortable shackled in this warming dark void...
Limbo.
He didn't remember anything, nor did he care that his memories were dropping like flies. Who cared about those memories anyway? They were painful. This quiet darkness provided him with everything he needed, he didn't have to eat, nor sleep, nor anything else, for that matter. He was just...LIVING. The warm, black darkness wavered, weaker this time, and Snape faintly felt his body shudder in pain, his shoulder blades bruised from its contact with the cold stone wall...
Snape frowned in his subconscious, his fingers gently stroking his smooth chin. He had to get away from the pain...it was getting too strong.
The prisoner closed his eyes and shrank deeper into the vaults of his mind, his body's protests falling on oblivious ears. Ah, there it was again. A smile flitted across his face, as he felt the darkness wrap its numbing tendrils around him.
Limbo.
~
He was a pitiful sight to behold. He had been kept barely alive, his body malnourished and shaking from the cold of the dungeon. His ribs protruded from his lacerated chest. His head was lolling around his neck, frail, and almost seeming to fall off his bloody shoulders. His eyes were dazed, and far away in a quasi-conscious state. The sinister dark mark on his arm glowed dully, burning itself into his abrasioned flesh.
"The fool." Voldemort muttered as he stood outside the prison door. He had not wanted to dispose of him, like he had not wanted to dispose of Goyle or Crabbe (the seniors). His gleaming red eyes narrowed dangerously.
But they had betrayed him.
The Dark Lord's eyes roved around his dank dungeon, coming to rest at the three men that were strapped to the wall. Snape, Crabbe, and Goyle. A smile flickered across his reptilian lips.
Voldemort walked inside, his nose assaulted by the suffocating stench of decay. He enjoyed it, breathing in deeply as he headed towards the prisoners, his footsteps making no sound on the molding straw covering the cool stone floor. He stopped when he reached Snape.
The man viciously yanked at the greasy prisoner's head, and looked, with a thinly veiled anger, at Snape. How MUCH this one had betrayed him, or tried to! He had not succeeded, however, Voldemort had made sure of that. Voldemort gazed again at Snape's exhausted, heavy-lidded black eyes, his anger threatening to explode at the greasy spy.
Dumbledore's henchman. He snarled silently to himself. 'That old fool will die at my hands' he thought confidently, though unable to ignore the tendril of fear the wove around his heart. His anger grew.
But back to Snape. Voldemort WOULD get his answers. Voldemort WOULD know about Dumbledore's pathetic plans to stop him. He WOULD know who the Rellwing princess was, and who her lover was.
And then he would kill them. Simple.
And there was one thing those Rellwings didn't know. They didn't know that he SUSPECTED that they were going to turn on him, it had already been PROphesied by his faithful servants. A surge of vicious confidence rushed into Voldemort's ailing body, and his red eyes narrowed in pleasure.
The Dark Lord dropped his hold on Snape, and smiled beatifically at the unconscious man. Snape couldn't protect anything. He had suffered in vain.
That old fool Dumbledore didn't even realize he had already sent Wormtail to watch over the Head Boy and Girl, to keep then under the control of the Diudominus potion, and ensure they reported any suspicious actions of Dumbledore to him. And, of course, to increase the rift between the four 'houses.'
Turmoil. Voldemort pictured it in his head. He would cause turmoil on his return.
Voldemort let a satisfied smirk spread across his face, and picked up a vial that had been forgotton at the prisoner's feet. He swirled the liquid around, the thick, transparent potion sloshing around inside. Voldemort had had enough pleasure watching them suffer, watching them writhe in the pain he inflicted. Now, it was time to be serious.
A cruel smile wove around his face as he turned toward his three prisoners, clutching the Verisatum potion eagerly with his pointed, slender fingers.
~*~
Draco stood alone in the Great Hall, looking over the empty tables in the misty moonlight that streamed from the windows above. He had never thought he would be sad, leaving this place. But here he was, looking sentimentally at everything around him with a heavy heart.
The boy walked slowly to the nearest table, and dragged one hand down the cool burnished mahogany wood; looked up at the banner which hung brilliantly above it, a gold and red flag that depicted a ferocious lion. Gryffindor's banner fluttered elegantly in the moonlit air, and Draco gazed at it, enthralled by the beauty of the golden beast.
It was a surreal moment. The blue moonlight placed everything in an ethereal glow, and Draco blinked his eyes rapidly, wondering for an instant if he was really awake. For a moment he glanced to the cold green banner on the opposite corner of the Gryffindor's, the cunning green snake seeming to wink at him. In his semi-conscious state, Draco winked back at it.
The boy felt half asleep, the muted sounds of the outside only adding to his reverie. He heard the soft hoots of the owls in the owlery, thinking wistfully of Persephone, his regal brown and silver owl.
There was a slight scrape of clothes against wood at the main door, and Draco turned around, his eyes dazed and his skin glowing an eerie blue. His robes behind him flapped as he suddenly turned around.
Draco's eyes trailed to the figure at the door. She was only a silhouette, but he would recognize her anywhere. The boy let out a small sigh as she stepped out into the moonlight.
Hermione was perfect.
In that instant, Draco felt a surge of feeling through his body as he gazed at her. She was beautiful, her brown hair glowing, her skin so smooth and her eyes so expressive, as her mouth opened in a small 'o' of surprise.
In that instant, before her face fell, and her whole expression blanched and became an angry, hate-filled grimace. Another dagger worked itself into Draco's heart, and he bowed his head in defeat, his hope extinguished. He had wanted to tell her...tell her face to face, and not in a stupid letter... His liquid blue eyes gazed at her again, drinking in her presence, and remembering every single detail of her. Her slender fingers, the way they were clenched into graceful fists, her flowing black robes...
"I'm Harry's girlfriend, now, Draco."
The way she just said she was Harry's girlfriend...
HARRY'S GIRLFRIEND?? Draco blinked, the words lingering and echoing endlessly in his confused mind. He choked back the growing sobs at his throat, and swallowed, his whole body protesting his nonchalant expression, his emotionless stance.
He swallowed, hard. Draco must have screwed this up again, made her hate him...
It was better that it would end this way. Better that he should leave her like this. She would have no regrets. Yes. It was better that she would move on, forget about the problems he gave her, forget about him...
For once showing his emotions, his shoulders slumped and he stared blearily at his hands.
"Goodbye...my Hermione." Draco said softly as he turned his back on her.
~*~
~*~
"WHO is the Rellwing princess? Who is her lover?" the Dark Lord screeched, his nails digging into Snape's chin. "Tell me! NOW!"
Snape stared soullessly into Voldemort's eyes, his mouth contorting. An inner battle was taking place within his subconscious, and he grimaced. Just as suddenly, however, a lucid, doe-eyed expression came over Snape, the effects of the Verisatum Potion taking over.
"Hemenadra." The greasy hair prisoner muttered, his mouth sagging from a broken jaw and exhaustion. Voldemort growled, and jabbed his wand at Snape's mouth, curing, with distaste, the man's broken jowl.
"WHO IS IT?" The snake-like man yelled, his voice rising one or two octaves. He held his captive's chin, none too gently, in his one, slender hand.
Snape stared at him, his eyes dead and emotionless.
"Hermione and Draco. Hermione Ranger and Draco Malfoy."
A palpable silence permeated the room, broken just as suddenly.
Chuckles.
Voldemort's eyes widened maniacally, his chuckles growing louder and throatier with each second.
~*~
A/n. That's it for now! Thank you ALL if you REVIEW! And THANK yOU ALL if you've READ this far!
YAYAY!!!!
*sticks a little dkc flag on the ground for no particular purpose*
REVIEW!!!!
*waves insanely*
willowfairy!!: u came back!! :DDD HAPPy! Yaya. Dang it. *take's out a moldy tomatoed couch and hides behind it* I thought I could get rid of it...lol! THANX FOR DA REVIEW!!! :DDDDDDDDD
ShanaiLatoi: ugh...i can call it a chappie if I want, yo. Chill.
Natalie Garner: YAY!! Ur BACK!!! :DDDDD I better get this chappie out before u come and chase me around the computer until I upload! lol! *sees Nat getting ready to charge* AHH!!! *runs away, but comes back to write* THX for da REVIEWWW!!! YAAAYYYYY!!!! *runs away again*
Chrissy: WOW chrissy! Thx for da compliment! U likes it? U really do? :DDDDDDDDDDDD (save some D's for a happy smile! Lol) Welp, here's another chappie for now! THx for reviewing!!! *runs away, for no apparent reason* TTYL~!~!
Looy: yay! U likes? Thx a bunch!! Reviewers are the best! Go Looy! Go Looy!
AN: on a really cool note, I had TWO firedrills today during summer school. YAAAYY! GO whoever didn't like school and decided to pull the alarm! *cheers*
~*~
Light of Darkness
~*~
Draco had decided. He swiftly made his way from the couch, his steps assured.
~*~
"Harry..." Hermione started nervously, her eyes filling up with unshed tears. Dang it! Why was she so emotional? She rubbed one eye roughly with the back of her hand, took a deep breath and cleared her mind.
Harry could never compare with Draco.
She groaned at the thought. There was NO Draco. NONE. He didn't exist. He never had. He had probably played a cruel, sick joke on her, to humiliate Hermione emotionally, and turn his back on her. She wasn't going to be weak, and fall back in his arms, after all the pain he had caused her, after he had left her...
Frustrated, Hermione raked her hands through her bushy hair, trying to untangle the knots and curls and knarls in it, and trying to channel her sadness and her anger into the motion.
Her attention returned to Harry, who was still halfway behind the washroom door. (AN. Let's pretend there's a bathroom connected to the Gryffindor common room!) His hands were gripping the door hard, his knuckles turning white. He was watching her carefully from the corner of his eye. Hermione could see him; his green eyes pleading with her, gentle yet shy.
Unconsciously, she growled a little at the cute expression on his face.
Hermione quietly surveyed the other girl who was in the room. Ginny. She could tell by how the redhead's hands seemed to be covering her face that she was hiding her expression. Maybe Harry was too dense, but Hermione could see a crush as blatant as that. Sure, Ginny had tried to hide it in 5th year, but no other boy compared to HARRY.
Hermione closed her eyes, trying to calm her mutinous thoughts. Should she be Harry's girlfriend?
Should she?
Really?
Her mind said yes. This was her friend since 11 she was talking about! She had known him for 6 years already! She felt comfortable in his presence, felt a familiarity that soothed her when she was too nervous. But then again...her mind was numb as she turned to survey The Boy Who Lived once again, his dark hair a messy nest on top of his head, his glasses slightly askew and his scar glowing painfully in the moonlight...
An unknown feeling bubbled to through her heart.
BUT he was just SO SIMPLE! With him there would be no secret agenda, no horrible father, a less tortured past...Everything was blunt, out there, open...Hermione grinned at how deliciously simple it could be...
The brunette groaned wearily, rubbing her forehead in consternation.
Damn this all.
Why was this happening to her?
She knew, deep down inside her, inside the darkest pit of her heart, that she still might feel something for Draco...If she became Harry's girlfriend...then who knew when she might ever have a chance with the blonde again?
Hermione groaned, disgusted at her infatuation with the Head Boy. Forget about Draco. Forget him. She swept the swirling doubts from her mind, swept her concern, her fears, and her worries out. She gazed at Harry's loving face, his green eyes imploring her.
"Yes." Hermione said quietly, knowing full well the implications of her actions. She heard Harry and Ginny both inhale sharp breaths, but for opposite feelings. Harry's face lit up with joy, and he hugged Hermione hard. Ginny shot them a weak smile, although her eyes betrayed the pain that was tearing her up inside.
Hermione shot her a concerned glance when she saw Ginny raggedly wipe her eyes. Oblivious to everything, Harry bounced around.
"YES! YES!!" he cajoled joyously, flinging his fist in the air in exuberation, and missing Hermione's face by inches. He didn't seem to notice but continued prancing around the room, shouting. "HERmionE's MinnEE! HermIONe's MINE!!! Hermione's my GIRLFRieend!!"
~*~
Draco silently placed a tightly packaged letter on Hermione's pillow, bags under his sleepless eyes. An unknown weight began to pile on him, numbing him, dragging him from his decision.
He balled the fist at his side in determination.
~*~
MEANWHILE...
~*~
Limbo.
Snape floated in his subconscious, the darkness surrounding him, his body far away, his muted cries of pain only echoes to his ears. Here, nothing could harm him, and he remained comfortable shackled in this warming dark void...
Limbo.
He didn't remember anything, nor did he care that his memories were dropping like flies. Who cared about those memories anyway? They were painful. This quiet darkness provided him with everything he needed, he didn't have to eat, nor sleep, nor anything else, for that matter. He was just...LIVING. The warm, black darkness wavered, weaker this time, and Snape faintly felt his body shudder in pain, his shoulder blades bruised from its contact with the cold stone wall...
Snape frowned in his subconscious, his fingers gently stroking his smooth chin. He had to get away from the pain...it was getting too strong.
The prisoner closed his eyes and shrank deeper into the vaults of his mind, his body's protests falling on oblivious ears. Ah, there it was again. A smile flitted across his face, as he felt the darkness wrap its numbing tendrils around him.
Limbo.
~
He was a pitiful sight to behold. He had been kept barely alive, his body malnourished and shaking from the cold of the dungeon. His ribs protruded from his lacerated chest. His head was lolling around his neck, frail, and almost seeming to fall off his bloody shoulders. His eyes were dazed, and far away in a quasi-conscious state. The sinister dark mark on his arm glowed dully, burning itself into his abrasioned flesh.
"The fool." Voldemort muttered as he stood outside the prison door. He had not wanted to dispose of him, like he had not wanted to dispose of Goyle or Crabbe (the seniors). His gleaming red eyes narrowed dangerously.
But they had betrayed him.
The Dark Lord's eyes roved around his dank dungeon, coming to rest at the three men that were strapped to the wall. Snape, Crabbe, and Goyle. A smile flickered across his reptilian lips.
Voldemort walked inside, his nose assaulted by the suffocating stench of decay. He enjoyed it, breathing in deeply as he headed towards the prisoners, his footsteps making no sound on the molding straw covering the cool stone floor. He stopped when he reached Snape.
The man viciously yanked at the greasy prisoner's head, and looked, with a thinly veiled anger, at Snape. How MUCH this one had betrayed him, or tried to! He had not succeeded, however, Voldemort had made sure of that. Voldemort gazed again at Snape's exhausted, heavy-lidded black eyes, his anger threatening to explode at the greasy spy.
Dumbledore's henchman. He snarled silently to himself. 'That old fool will die at my hands' he thought confidently, though unable to ignore the tendril of fear the wove around his heart. His anger grew.
But back to Snape. Voldemort WOULD get his answers. Voldemort WOULD know about Dumbledore's pathetic plans to stop him. He WOULD know who the Rellwing princess was, and who her lover was.
And then he would kill them. Simple.
And there was one thing those Rellwings didn't know. They didn't know that he SUSPECTED that they were going to turn on him, it had already been PROphesied by his faithful servants. A surge of vicious confidence rushed into Voldemort's ailing body, and his red eyes narrowed in pleasure.
The Dark Lord dropped his hold on Snape, and smiled beatifically at the unconscious man. Snape couldn't protect anything. He had suffered in vain.
That old fool Dumbledore didn't even realize he had already sent Wormtail to watch over the Head Boy and Girl, to keep then under the control of the Diudominus potion, and ensure they reported any suspicious actions of Dumbledore to him. And, of course, to increase the rift between the four 'houses.'
Turmoil. Voldemort pictured it in his head. He would cause turmoil on his return.
Voldemort let a satisfied smirk spread across his face, and picked up a vial that had been forgotton at the prisoner's feet. He swirled the liquid around, the thick, transparent potion sloshing around inside. Voldemort had had enough pleasure watching them suffer, watching them writhe in the pain he inflicted. Now, it was time to be serious.
A cruel smile wove around his face as he turned toward his three prisoners, clutching the Verisatum potion eagerly with his pointed, slender fingers.
~*~
Draco stood alone in the Great Hall, looking over the empty tables in the misty moonlight that streamed from the windows above. He had never thought he would be sad, leaving this place. But here he was, looking sentimentally at everything around him with a heavy heart.
The boy walked slowly to the nearest table, and dragged one hand down the cool burnished mahogany wood; looked up at the banner which hung brilliantly above it, a gold and red flag that depicted a ferocious lion. Gryffindor's banner fluttered elegantly in the moonlit air, and Draco gazed at it, enthralled by the beauty of the golden beast.
It was a surreal moment. The blue moonlight placed everything in an ethereal glow, and Draco blinked his eyes rapidly, wondering for an instant if he was really awake. For a moment he glanced to the cold green banner on the opposite corner of the Gryffindor's, the cunning green snake seeming to wink at him. In his semi-conscious state, Draco winked back at it.
The boy felt half asleep, the muted sounds of the outside only adding to his reverie. He heard the soft hoots of the owls in the owlery, thinking wistfully of Persephone, his regal brown and silver owl.
There was a slight scrape of clothes against wood at the main door, and Draco turned around, his eyes dazed and his skin glowing an eerie blue. His robes behind him flapped as he suddenly turned around.
Draco's eyes trailed to the figure at the door. She was only a silhouette, but he would recognize her anywhere. The boy let out a small sigh as she stepped out into the moonlight.
Hermione was perfect.
In that instant, Draco felt a surge of feeling through his body as he gazed at her. She was beautiful, her brown hair glowing, her skin so smooth and her eyes so expressive, as her mouth opened in a small 'o' of surprise.
In that instant, before her face fell, and her whole expression blanched and became an angry, hate-filled grimace. Another dagger worked itself into Draco's heart, and he bowed his head in defeat, his hope extinguished. He had wanted to tell her...tell her face to face, and not in a stupid letter... His liquid blue eyes gazed at her again, drinking in her presence, and remembering every single detail of her. Her slender fingers, the way they were clenched into graceful fists, her flowing black robes...
"I'm Harry's girlfriend, now, Draco."
The way she just said she was Harry's girlfriend...
HARRY'S GIRLFRIEND?? Draco blinked, the words lingering and echoing endlessly in his confused mind. He choked back the growing sobs at his throat, and swallowed, his whole body protesting his nonchalant expression, his emotionless stance.
He swallowed, hard. Draco must have screwed this up again, made her hate him...
It was better that it would end this way. Better that he should leave her like this. She would have no regrets. Yes. It was better that she would move on, forget about the problems he gave her, forget about him...
For once showing his emotions, his shoulders slumped and he stared blearily at his hands.
"Goodbye...my Hermione." Draco said softly as he turned his back on her.
~*~
~*~
"WHO is the Rellwing princess? Who is her lover?" the Dark Lord screeched, his nails digging into Snape's chin. "Tell me! NOW!"
Snape stared soullessly into Voldemort's eyes, his mouth contorting. An inner battle was taking place within his subconscious, and he grimaced. Just as suddenly, however, a lucid, doe-eyed expression came over Snape, the effects of the Verisatum Potion taking over.
"Hemenadra." The greasy hair prisoner muttered, his mouth sagging from a broken jaw and exhaustion. Voldemort growled, and jabbed his wand at Snape's mouth, curing, with distaste, the man's broken jowl.
"WHO IS IT?" The snake-like man yelled, his voice rising one or two octaves. He held his captive's chin, none too gently, in his one, slender hand.
Snape stared at him, his eyes dead and emotionless.
"Hermione and Draco. Hermione Ranger and Draco Malfoy."
A palpable silence permeated the room, broken just as suddenly.
Chuckles.
Voldemort's eyes widened maniacally, his chuckles growing louder and throatier with each second.
~*~
A/n. That's it for now! Thank you ALL if you REVIEW! And THANK yOU ALL if you've READ this far!
YAYAY!!!!
*sticks a little dkc flag on the ground for no particular purpose*
REVIEW!!!!
*waves insanely*
