Chapter Seven: Power of Fate
Hermione and Draco weren't greeted at the door, since no one was back yet. They went to their separate rooms, pretending they hadn't left.
Tomorrow they would leave for the Nile in Africa. Hermione realized Draco would need to wear short sleeves, and thus, would show off his snakes.
She prayed that his cunning side had thought of a plan.
She was avoiding fate.
'What fate?' she chided herself. 'I'm not under anyone's control!' she demanded, arguing with an unseen force.
She started to pack, and her hands fell on her precious treasure, the Moonstone.
She lifted it up, she knew on their first day gone, Lavender had placed it in her sack. Lavender appeared to be up to something, either way; she knew what she had to do.
She unclasped the clip on the back of the chain and lifted it up.
"Oh! You're putting it on! Pansy Pansy!!" Hermione had 'not' heard them come up.
"Come on!" they both cheered.
Hermione did want the first time putting it to be alone, it did seem rather personal, and having them around broke that.
"What's with the noise?" Charlie came up, Draco behind him.
"I'm putting on a necklace, and they're making a production of it!" Hermione chided.
"Then it must be important," he sat down motioning Malfoy to do similar.
Hermione sighed in frustration, but she caught Draco apologetic eye, and clamed down and lifted it up once more.
Charlie recognized the gem at first glace. It was a magnificent Moonstone, the kind that brought back most memories, the very gem that was legend among Moon stone collectors.
Hermione clasped it behind her neck, quietly whispering, "I am not a prisoner of my destiny, I choose my own."
A soft breeze stirred up Hermione felt them all, all of her, floating around her.
She knew their pains and their love of the many forms of Draco.
"Anyone know what she's trying to remember?" Charlie asked, not aware.
Looking at Draco he jumped up, he was glowing, apparently in la la land.
"What's going on?" he asked, shocked
"Moonstones are supposed to bring memory right?" Pansy said logically, still looking at Hermione "So I presume she trying to remember."
"Mione makes sense, she's wearing it, what about demon boy over here?" Charlie said pointing at the glowing Draco.
"Drake?" Pansy said as she saw him, she ran over and pulled up his sleeves, and she saw something that made her faint.
The snakes were moving.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You can free us!" They shouted. Draco was vaguely aware of Hermione's presence.
"Please WE BEG YOU!"
Draco Malfoy, wasn't in Slytherin for nothing however. "What is the costs and gains?" he shouted.
They parted from the glowing Hermione. "Hermione," he voice whispered for him.
"You will lose 'her' She will lose 'you' but you shall gain each other in all of eternity!"
"Free us and yourself!"
"Beware of you loss." They warned.
Damn, why was it all of the most important decisions were the most difficult to make?
"Damn it, GIVE HER BACK!" Draco ran through the apparitions holding him back, and barely managed to touch her hand, hoping it was enough.
He forgot all else.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hermione reached up and took off the necklace.
She fell to the ground and Draco woke up out of his trance.
"See lavender? See why I didn't want to wear it?" She said before her eyes darkened
"Hermione, what just happened?"
Hermione knew, she heard the spirits calling her, begging her to accept fate. They were also fighting with Draco, trying to change their lives, both had fought them off, both refused to give in. He tried to reach for her, and touched her hand, but then he was engulfed.
Draco was covered head to toe in snakes too. The thought made her queasy and her knees buckled on her.
"Hermione?" Charlie said softly, "what did you remember?"
"All mortals are enslaved to their fate, those who fight it are doomed forever." The voice was not her own, but that of a mystical being with infinite knowledge.
"Why was Malfoy glowing too?"
"He was fighting as well, the mark of the king isn't foreign to his soul and it's power was awakened when I placed the stone on my neck." She sounded like a priestess.
"How old are you?" Charlie asked a dumb question, wondering if Hermione was under a strange influence of varitsurm, or if she had become an oracle of sorts.
"I'm as old as this land is known to the hands of man." She answered and feinted.
"This land?" he whispered.
Hermione opened her eyes, "What's going on?" She asked Charlie was kneeling over her worried.
He blinked.
"Well, I guess we leave this be, I'm owling Snape." And he walked off.
Draco looked at her in shock, "You know Mudblood, you sounded exactly like Morgan."
"Morgan?" Pansy asked.
"The other." He said sharply, and she understood.
"We had better get packing Lav." Pansy took her new friends arm and pulled her out of the room, leaving the two be.
"What is the hell is going on!" he shouted once they were alone.
"I don't know what happened." She whispered.
"Well, now they think you're a weirdo and they are getting hints, no more spontaneous actions Mudblood." He chided.
"Fine, no telling Pansy of your snakes!"
"She already knows." He said softly.
"Why?"
"I was kind of talking to her and it came out."
He sat down.
"What were you two talking about?" Hermione asked curious.
"Becoming death eaters." he mumbled, hoping she wouldn't hear.
"Death Eaters? Heavens why?"
"I'd rather not die, mudblood, before I graduate!" He snapped, angered by his own luck.
"Why would you die?"
"My father would kill me for not taking the mark," he explained simply, "speaking of which, I'm due to gain it this month, more than likely on All Hallows Eve."
"Samhain?" Hermione breathed, "We'll be at the temple then!"
"I know," he put his head in his hands. "We're in deep, Granger, real deep."
"I'm feeling the suffocation." She agreed, "But tell me, how does one, with the rite of the king on them, become a death eater?"
At this Malfoy gave her a dark smirk, and said simply, "They don't."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
By the time they reached Cairo, Egypt, everyone, even a very disturbed Professor knew of Draco's snakes.
Hermione vouched not to wear the necklace unless it was needed, and Draco hadn't protested.
Lavender and Pansy took this opportunity to wear the skimpiest outfits they could get their hands on.
Lavender, kept to her name and wore all purple, head wrap included. The head wrap gave her a gypsy like look about her, and told everyone within a five foot radius, the she was indeed, a tourist.
Pansy kept to a white skirt and a white vest/shirt, that made her look a bit odd, but far more of a commoner, then a visitor.
Hermione kept to a light blue, feather light silk shirt and kaki pants. Draco wore similar, but his shirt was white.
Snape, to their amusement, hadn't left his values at the airport, but instead his sanity. He wore all black.
Hermione estimated that he would need five gallons of water to last the day.
"We are visiting the towns today, then tomorrow we'll see the temples and pyramids." Snape announced.
Lavender and Pansy grabbed Hermione's wrists and lead her off to the shops.
"Typical," Draco sighed, noting how the other four had gotten very close, and instead of consulting with Hufflepuffs, he walked off in the direction of the girls.
As he walked, stares followed his arms, everyone looked quickly, then begun to speak in whispers.
It was unnerving to say the least. He walked quickly in hopes of catching up with the three females so that they could wrap him up in whatever they liked, just as long as his arms were covered.
"Draco." A cold voice called. As if whishing for the worst form of female torture weren't enough!
Draco stopped and turned, concealing his emotions behind a well made mask, "Father." He confirmed.
"Why in heavens name are people staring at you boy?" Then the crowds in between them cleared, and Mr. Malfoy saw exactly what everyone was looking at. "Well, I came to check on you, and a good thing I did, taken up by tattoos my son?" he smirked, "You hardly need all those, only one suits a Malfoy, really, and if you were that anxious, you merely should have asked, I would have arranged things for you." He walked up and put his arms around Draco, and Draco shoved him off.
"These suit me fine." He said coldly.
"No, I'm afraid their a bit over the top, my boy, you have little room, for little else!" he said simply, pushing Draco into a corner.
"Malfoy?" a soft voice called, causing them both to look over. Hermione stood their face front, eyes cold. "Parkinson was wondering where you went off to, and threatened me to find you, Good afternoon Mr. Malfoy," she greeted.
"Well if it isn't little miss Mudblood?" he sneered.
"yes, sir, well Mr. Malfoy, your son needs to go see Parkinson, before she curses me sir." Hermione did a little curtsy and left.
"See, I have to go father, we'll continue this conversation later." And he ducked out of the corner, as he father grasped his wrists. Draco stopped, feeling the pressure, "Let go, father." He said coldly.
"Not until I remove this abomination!" Draco noticed a sudden change in environment, they were in a back alley someplace where no one could see them.
'Perfect,' Draco thought and smirked. "Go ahead and try, if you can, I won't be the only one thanking you."
Luscious regarded his son oddly, "What do you mean, You want these off?"
"Well, it would be nice," Draco drawled, "but its not like I haven't tried."
"Then you didn't try hard enough, 'CLARA!'" a golden beam shot out and licked the skin, but licking was all it was doing.
"See? I told you." Draco drawled.
"They aren't tattoos." His father snapped, "What are they?"
"The rite of the king." Draco hissed, and realized his mistake.
His fathers eyes widened twice their usual size, as he stepped back, "K- King?"
"Oh BLOODY HELL!" Draco cursed and flipped his wand at his father, "Obliviate!"
And none of that ever happened folks!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Oh Draco look at this!" Pansy spun around clinging to an overly long vest made of Egyptian cotton.
"Sleeves," he reminded her, "Something I can wear?" she was about to burst into tears of frustration, when she spotted something else.
"How did you talk with Mr. Malfoy go?" Hermione asked softly, so that the others couldn't hear.
"I spilt the beans, and made them vanish."
"Meaning?" she smirked, lightly in a highly un practiced way.
"That I told him the truth, and modified his memory a tad." He shrugged.
"Oh well, he'll find out again, on all hallows." She explained.
"All that much more time to myself. Hermione," he whispered, "Did Potter ever feel like the world was watching him?"
"Well," she smiled, "there is little difference between a little scar that has great meaning, and a great tattoo with little meaning."
"Oh it has meaning," Draco growled, angry, "Father showed me precisely how much power I hold today, he was actually afraid of me!" he told her.
"Well, if your family is all its cracked up to be, then of course he would understand what those mean," she gestured to the snakes. "Just be grateful, he doesn't know why you wear them."
"I guess,"
"Hey! You two, done whispering?" Lavender called out. "Malfoy, I think we found you something!"
They looked up to what she was holding, a dark blue, really light, from the looks of it, barely even cloth, tunic. With relatively long sleeves.
"Let's see how it looks." Draco drawled and was pulled off by Pansy for the fitting.
"So," Lavender started, with a slight edge in her voice, "What were you two chatting about?"
"Malfoy was with his dad when I found him." Hermione said simply.
"And it caused a conversation between you two?" Lavender raised an eyebrow. "So, what did he have to say?"
"Malfoy, or his father?" Hermione questioned.
"His father," Lavender pressed.
"He was scared of his son." Hermione smirked, "Just because of those dumb tattoos, we were discussing the irony of the situation, in 'whispers'" Hermione explained.
"Hum." Lavender sat down by Hermione. "You know, I think I'm in the dark on something."
Hermione regarded her friend oddly, "Whatever gave you that notion?"
"Well, let's see. Pansy insists that buying Malfoy a long sleeved, comfortable shirt is of high priority. Both His father and Snape are scared out of their minds about Malfoy, and you and him keep talking in whispers." She glared at her friend, "I wonder why I feel left in the dark."
Hermione sighed, Lavender did have a point, "Look at Malfoy's arms," Hermione prompted, "And what in history of magic class reminds you of them?"
Lavender blinked and looked up to Draco modeling, when the shirt was off she gazed at his arms closely, then here eyes grew twice their size. "The mark of the king." She whispered, and looked at Hermione scared.
"Right," Hermione smiled. "The rite of the king signifies who rules the land, by power bestowed by the gods. Draco has those on him, so naturally, any family who ages back to any mentions, and thought of that as the mark of the king, would be afraid. The old rite, leads to old ways, and witches and wizards have evolved out of being bound with muggles, so the king isn't needed really. The reason why Malfoy would wear those, is unfathomable to anyone, understand?"
"Yeah, now one more question." Lavender smirked at her friend in a way Hermione didn't like. "Has it got anything to do with your moon stone?"
'tons' Hermione mused, but kept her mouth shut.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AN: Hope your still loving!!
Yeah Lavender is staying in the dark as much as Pansy. Neither is going to figure out the connection yet.
I have a destination chosen, in mind, for the most important part of the story.
Guess where?
It's not to hard.
Review!
RelenaS
Hermione and Draco weren't greeted at the door, since no one was back yet. They went to their separate rooms, pretending they hadn't left.
Tomorrow they would leave for the Nile in Africa. Hermione realized Draco would need to wear short sleeves, and thus, would show off his snakes.
She prayed that his cunning side had thought of a plan.
She was avoiding fate.
'What fate?' she chided herself. 'I'm not under anyone's control!' she demanded, arguing with an unseen force.
She started to pack, and her hands fell on her precious treasure, the Moonstone.
She lifted it up, she knew on their first day gone, Lavender had placed it in her sack. Lavender appeared to be up to something, either way; she knew what she had to do.
She unclasped the clip on the back of the chain and lifted it up.
"Oh! You're putting it on! Pansy Pansy!!" Hermione had 'not' heard them come up.
"Come on!" they both cheered.
Hermione did want the first time putting it to be alone, it did seem rather personal, and having them around broke that.
"What's with the noise?" Charlie came up, Draco behind him.
"I'm putting on a necklace, and they're making a production of it!" Hermione chided.
"Then it must be important," he sat down motioning Malfoy to do similar.
Hermione sighed in frustration, but she caught Draco apologetic eye, and clamed down and lifted it up once more.
Charlie recognized the gem at first glace. It was a magnificent Moonstone, the kind that brought back most memories, the very gem that was legend among Moon stone collectors.
Hermione clasped it behind her neck, quietly whispering, "I am not a prisoner of my destiny, I choose my own."
A soft breeze stirred up Hermione felt them all, all of her, floating around her.
She knew their pains and their love of the many forms of Draco.
"Anyone know what she's trying to remember?" Charlie asked, not aware.
Looking at Draco he jumped up, he was glowing, apparently in la la land.
"What's going on?" he asked, shocked
"Moonstones are supposed to bring memory right?" Pansy said logically, still looking at Hermione "So I presume she trying to remember."
"Mione makes sense, she's wearing it, what about demon boy over here?" Charlie said pointing at the glowing Draco.
"Drake?" Pansy said as she saw him, she ran over and pulled up his sleeves, and she saw something that made her faint.
The snakes were moving.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You can free us!" They shouted. Draco was vaguely aware of Hermione's presence.
"Please WE BEG YOU!"
Draco Malfoy, wasn't in Slytherin for nothing however. "What is the costs and gains?" he shouted.
They parted from the glowing Hermione. "Hermione," he voice whispered for him.
"You will lose 'her' She will lose 'you' but you shall gain each other in all of eternity!"
"Free us and yourself!"
"Beware of you loss." They warned.
Damn, why was it all of the most important decisions were the most difficult to make?
"Damn it, GIVE HER BACK!" Draco ran through the apparitions holding him back, and barely managed to touch her hand, hoping it was enough.
He forgot all else.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hermione reached up and took off the necklace.
She fell to the ground and Draco woke up out of his trance.
"See lavender? See why I didn't want to wear it?" She said before her eyes darkened
"Hermione, what just happened?"
Hermione knew, she heard the spirits calling her, begging her to accept fate. They were also fighting with Draco, trying to change their lives, both had fought them off, both refused to give in. He tried to reach for her, and touched her hand, but then he was engulfed.
Draco was covered head to toe in snakes too. The thought made her queasy and her knees buckled on her.
"Hermione?" Charlie said softly, "what did you remember?"
"All mortals are enslaved to their fate, those who fight it are doomed forever." The voice was not her own, but that of a mystical being with infinite knowledge.
"Why was Malfoy glowing too?"
"He was fighting as well, the mark of the king isn't foreign to his soul and it's power was awakened when I placed the stone on my neck." She sounded like a priestess.
"How old are you?" Charlie asked a dumb question, wondering if Hermione was under a strange influence of varitsurm, or if she had become an oracle of sorts.
"I'm as old as this land is known to the hands of man." She answered and feinted.
"This land?" he whispered.
Hermione opened her eyes, "What's going on?" She asked Charlie was kneeling over her worried.
He blinked.
"Well, I guess we leave this be, I'm owling Snape." And he walked off.
Draco looked at her in shock, "You know Mudblood, you sounded exactly like Morgan."
"Morgan?" Pansy asked.
"The other." He said sharply, and she understood.
"We had better get packing Lav." Pansy took her new friends arm and pulled her out of the room, leaving the two be.
"What is the hell is going on!" he shouted once they were alone.
"I don't know what happened." She whispered.
"Well, now they think you're a weirdo and they are getting hints, no more spontaneous actions Mudblood." He chided.
"Fine, no telling Pansy of your snakes!"
"She already knows." He said softly.
"Why?"
"I was kind of talking to her and it came out."
He sat down.
"What were you two talking about?" Hermione asked curious.
"Becoming death eaters." he mumbled, hoping she wouldn't hear.
"Death Eaters? Heavens why?"
"I'd rather not die, mudblood, before I graduate!" He snapped, angered by his own luck.
"Why would you die?"
"My father would kill me for not taking the mark," he explained simply, "speaking of which, I'm due to gain it this month, more than likely on All Hallows Eve."
"Samhain?" Hermione breathed, "We'll be at the temple then!"
"I know," he put his head in his hands. "We're in deep, Granger, real deep."
"I'm feeling the suffocation." She agreed, "But tell me, how does one, with the rite of the king on them, become a death eater?"
At this Malfoy gave her a dark smirk, and said simply, "They don't."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
By the time they reached Cairo, Egypt, everyone, even a very disturbed Professor knew of Draco's snakes.
Hermione vouched not to wear the necklace unless it was needed, and Draco hadn't protested.
Lavender and Pansy took this opportunity to wear the skimpiest outfits they could get their hands on.
Lavender, kept to her name and wore all purple, head wrap included. The head wrap gave her a gypsy like look about her, and told everyone within a five foot radius, the she was indeed, a tourist.
Pansy kept to a white skirt and a white vest/shirt, that made her look a bit odd, but far more of a commoner, then a visitor.
Hermione kept to a light blue, feather light silk shirt and kaki pants. Draco wore similar, but his shirt was white.
Snape, to their amusement, hadn't left his values at the airport, but instead his sanity. He wore all black.
Hermione estimated that he would need five gallons of water to last the day.
"We are visiting the towns today, then tomorrow we'll see the temples and pyramids." Snape announced.
Lavender and Pansy grabbed Hermione's wrists and lead her off to the shops.
"Typical," Draco sighed, noting how the other four had gotten very close, and instead of consulting with Hufflepuffs, he walked off in the direction of the girls.
As he walked, stares followed his arms, everyone looked quickly, then begun to speak in whispers.
It was unnerving to say the least. He walked quickly in hopes of catching up with the three females so that they could wrap him up in whatever they liked, just as long as his arms were covered.
"Draco." A cold voice called. As if whishing for the worst form of female torture weren't enough!
Draco stopped and turned, concealing his emotions behind a well made mask, "Father." He confirmed.
"Why in heavens name are people staring at you boy?" Then the crowds in between them cleared, and Mr. Malfoy saw exactly what everyone was looking at. "Well, I came to check on you, and a good thing I did, taken up by tattoos my son?" he smirked, "You hardly need all those, only one suits a Malfoy, really, and if you were that anxious, you merely should have asked, I would have arranged things for you." He walked up and put his arms around Draco, and Draco shoved him off.
"These suit me fine." He said coldly.
"No, I'm afraid their a bit over the top, my boy, you have little room, for little else!" he said simply, pushing Draco into a corner.
"Malfoy?" a soft voice called, causing them both to look over. Hermione stood their face front, eyes cold. "Parkinson was wondering where you went off to, and threatened me to find you, Good afternoon Mr. Malfoy," she greeted.
"Well if it isn't little miss Mudblood?" he sneered.
"yes, sir, well Mr. Malfoy, your son needs to go see Parkinson, before she curses me sir." Hermione did a little curtsy and left.
"See, I have to go father, we'll continue this conversation later." And he ducked out of the corner, as he father grasped his wrists. Draco stopped, feeling the pressure, "Let go, father." He said coldly.
"Not until I remove this abomination!" Draco noticed a sudden change in environment, they were in a back alley someplace where no one could see them.
'Perfect,' Draco thought and smirked. "Go ahead and try, if you can, I won't be the only one thanking you."
Luscious regarded his son oddly, "What do you mean, You want these off?"
"Well, it would be nice," Draco drawled, "but its not like I haven't tried."
"Then you didn't try hard enough, 'CLARA!'" a golden beam shot out and licked the skin, but licking was all it was doing.
"See? I told you." Draco drawled.
"They aren't tattoos." His father snapped, "What are they?"
"The rite of the king." Draco hissed, and realized his mistake.
His fathers eyes widened twice their usual size, as he stepped back, "K- King?"
"Oh BLOODY HELL!" Draco cursed and flipped his wand at his father, "Obliviate!"
And none of that ever happened folks!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Oh Draco look at this!" Pansy spun around clinging to an overly long vest made of Egyptian cotton.
"Sleeves," he reminded her, "Something I can wear?" she was about to burst into tears of frustration, when she spotted something else.
"How did you talk with Mr. Malfoy go?" Hermione asked softly, so that the others couldn't hear.
"I spilt the beans, and made them vanish."
"Meaning?" she smirked, lightly in a highly un practiced way.
"That I told him the truth, and modified his memory a tad." He shrugged.
"Oh well, he'll find out again, on all hallows." She explained.
"All that much more time to myself. Hermione," he whispered, "Did Potter ever feel like the world was watching him?"
"Well," she smiled, "there is little difference between a little scar that has great meaning, and a great tattoo with little meaning."
"Oh it has meaning," Draco growled, angry, "Father showed me precisely how much power I hold today, he was actually afraid of me!" he told her.
"Well, if your family is all its cracked up to be, then of course he would understand what those mean," she gestured to the snakes. "Just be grateful, he doesn't know why you wear them."
"I guess,"
"Hey! You two, done whispering?" Lavender called out. "Malfoy, I think we found you something!"
They looked up to what she was holding, a dark blue, really light, from the looks of it, barely even cloth, tunic. With relatively long sleeves.
"Let's see how it looks." Draco drawled and was pulled off by Pansy for the fitting.
"So," Lavender started, with a slight edge in her voice, "What were you two chatting about?"
"Malfoy was with his dad when I found him." Hermione said simply.
"And it caused a conversation between you two?" Lavender raised an eyebrow. "So, what did he have to say?"
"Malfoy, or his father?" Hermione questioned.
"His father," Lavender pressed.
"He was scared of his son." Hermione smirked, "Just because of those dumb tattoos, we were discussing the irony of the situation, in 'whispers'" Hermione explained.
"Hum." Lavender sat down by Hermione. "You know, I think I'm in the dark on something."
Hermione regarded her friend oddly, "Whatever gave you that notion?"
"Well, let's see. Pansy insists that buying Malfoy a long sleeved, comfortable shirt is of high priority. Both His father and Snape are scared out of their minds about Malfoy, and you and him keep talking in whispers." She glared at her friend, "I wonder why I feel left in the dark."
Hermione sighed, Lavender did have a point, "Look at Malfoy's arms," Hermione prompted, "And what in history of magic class reminds you of them?"
Lavender blinked and looked up to Draco modeling, when the shirt was off she gazed at his arms closely, then here eyes grew twice their size. "The mark of the king." She whispered, and looked at Hermione scared.
"Right," Hermione smiled. "The rite of the king signifies who rules the land, by power bestowed by the gods. Draco has those on him, so naturally, any family who ages back to any mentions, and thought of that as the mark of the king, would be afraid. The old rite, leads to old ways, and witches and wizards have evolved out of being bound with muggles, so the king isn't needed really. The reason why Malfoy would wear those, is unfathomable to anyone, understand?"
"Yeah, now one more question." Lavender smirked at her friend in a way Hermione didn't like. "Has it got anything to do with your moon stone?"
'tons' Hermione mused, but kept her mouth shut.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AN: Hope your still loving!!
Yeah Lavender is staying in the dark as much as Pansy. Neither is going to figure out the connection yet.
I have a destination chosen, in mind, for the most important part of the story.
Guess where?
It's not to hard.
Review!
RelenaS