Disclaimer: Still nothing mine…too damn bad!
Author's note: I'm so royally sorry I haven't updated this in such a long time, but you see, I had countless problems…not to forget that my pc got wiped down for almost a month… SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY!! Don't kill me! Read this, drop a review and then…kill me. ;)
IN THE SHADOWS OF THE DARK
I'm standing on a bridge
I'm waitin in the dark
I thought that you'd be here by now
There's nothing but the rain
No footsteps on the ground
I'm listening but there's no sound
Isn't anyone tryin to find me?
Won't someone come an' take me home?
Avril Lavigne, I'm with you
*****************
Ron glanced down at his watch, just to control if it was all settled. His glamour was ok, but it couldn't last more than three hours, and half an hour had already passed. He couldn't waste such a precious time. Why the hell that bloody bitch was late, by the way? This was where she used to come right after work, he had followed her the previous day and had found her getting drunk in that nasty pub in Knockturn Alley. Damn, it seemed that everyone in the last few hours could do nothing else but being late…You deserved it, Hermione's voice rang in his mind, for all the countless times you made me wait.
The door of the pub opened at once, and there she was. Renee Martin, Miss Traitor Bitch herself. She blew kisses to all the men who greeted her in many ways – and they were quite a number – and casted a glance towards him. Ron tightened his grip on the bottle of beer he had in his hand. Now he had to control himself and start acting like one of those idiot blokes she was used to, or the plan would have failed miserably. Let the games begin.
Moving seductively her hips, Renee came up to him with a brilliant smile on her face. "And who are you, baby? I've never seen you here."
He grinned at her. "Pleasure to meet you too, my lady."
She smiled even more brightly. "Oh, silly me. Such a pleasure it is." And she leaned a bit towards him. "Indeed." And with a wink she added "Well, this place is like my home, so if you need something, anything…I'd be…very happy to help you."
He raised his eyebrows for a moment, then flashed her a very attractive smile. "Maybe your name, to begin with."
"I'm Renee." She said, offering her hand.
"Micheal." He took her hand and kissed it. "But my friends call me Mike."
"So, Mike" she bit her lower lip seductively. "May I have a seat, or are you waiting for your girlfriend?"
He smirked. "I'm quite lonely this night, you know. And I'd be more than happy if you joined me, beautiful lady."
She grinned and sat down on the chair next to him. Then she glanced at his beer. "Is this for a particular reason?"
"Is this what?"
"This." She took his bottle in her hand. "To me it seems that you're tryin' to forget something…someone."
He grinned. "Are you always that able to guess about people's problems?"
She moved her chair closer to him. "Yeah…almost always. But I'm pretty good at helping people too."
He let his eyes wander up and down her body. "I can imagine this."
She laughed a bit, then resumed her seductive expression. "Well, I could help you."
He peered into her eyes until he grabbed a glass and put some of his beer in it, too fast to let her see that there was a bit of white powder in it. "Here, have a drink." He said with a wink.
She smiled and drank all the beer at once. He smiled even more. "It tastes…"
He put an arm around her waist. "…like me." He finished, with his sexiest voice. She raised her eyebrows and giggled. "Could I ask you why on earth a woman like you is all alone tonight? Don't you have a man who's waiting for you right now?"
She snorted and looked directly into his eyes. "My man is working tonight…"
"Working…" he whispered, nearing her mouth with his. "And what's his work that he manages to stay away from you?"
She stared at his full lips like mesmerized, and smiled slightly. "He's…doing an important job…you know, his chief wants him for an important mission…" she whispered.
"Oh yeah?" he said, brushing his lips against hers for a second. "…we have an important man here…"
"…yes…"
"I see…" he blew some air on her lips while talking. "…what, is your golden boy an Auror?..."
She smirked, moving her hands over his chest. "Of course, not…you'd really think I would lower myself to that scum?..."
He snorted, trying to focus on his goal. He would have been more than glad to strangle her right then and there. "…he must be not that great of a male if you're feeling so lonely right now…"
"I am…" she whispered. "…very lonely indeed…but Kev says there will be plenty of time for us after his chief will have killed the girl…"
Hermione. He swallowed hard and hid his face in the crook of her neck, kissing it softly while trying to imagine it was Hermione's sweet, soft neck he was kissing… "…nice chap your friend is…if he has to kill a woman to stay with you…"
She giggled and moved her head a tiny bit, to let him kiss her neck properly. "…no…no, you see…this girl has to die…because her fiance has to understand who has the power in this world…"
He had the strongest urge to ripp her head off, but compelled himself to keep control of his mind and body. "…and aren't you jelous that your man is currently staying with this woman instead of you?..."
She moaned when he licked a particular spot on her neck. "…I…don't care right now…"
Ron shifted slightly, and put both his hands on her bottom, molding it ritmically. "…and you're here with me…instead of going to your man…and knocking some sense in him…"
"…can't go there…" she moaned. "…don't wanna go…."
"No?" he came back to look into her eyes, all the time licking softly her luscious lips. "…too bad… tell me…is he with this girl right now?...that's why you're doing this with me?"
She shook her head, caressing his chest with her long fingered hands. "…Master is taking care of her…Kev is only doing his phantom-help job as always…"
Ron tensed all over, feeling his insides clutching in blind rage. Master is taking care of her. He struggled to keep his voice cooled down, and palmed her long legs. "…where are they right now?..." He knew he shouldn't have asked direct questions, but this couldn't go on forever. Hermione was in real danger.
"…can't tell you…" she whispered against his ear.
He bit her lower lip seductively, really trying to figure this was his Hermione the one he was seducing. "…yes, you can…"
She moaned again and he felt her hands on his very naked chest, under his jumper. "…Oberty St.John…Jonah's palace…"
That was it. He knew what she was talikng about. Jonah Miller had been captured and sent to Azkaban the previous month thanks to Ron's auror team, and he knew about his very big possessions in the Irish countryside. Where they were keeping Hermione.
"…stop talking about them anyway…" she tried to kiss him, but he avoided her. "What's wrong now?" she asked.
He smirked and took his hands off of her. "Thanks a lot, Renee. Always thought you were all tits and butt and no brain at all."
She looked horrified, but had no time because he pointed his wand at her and whispered "Obliviate!"
*****************************
Hermione twisted her hands in her lap, trying to erase that horrible feeling of pure fear she felt in her veins. She was so afraid that Ron would be late again, too late to prevent anything horrible from happening. She desperately wanted to do something – anything – to help him and herself, but without her wand she could do very few things. No wands, no food and no sleep in two days and half. How could she sleep at all? Her most horrible nightmare was that damn Raven would come in and rape her. That was so fucking possible…
Ron…
God, if she wanted to be safe and sound in his strong arms again….She so wanted to feel his love for her, his warm body against hers, his masculine skin, his powerful scent, his wonderful adoring hands…she wanted him, all of him. And she was so scared not to see him ever again. Expecially when her last words to him had been bitter and furious.
The door opened loudly, and she kept on sitting in the corner of the room even when Raven's figure came into her view, smirking as always.
"Good evening, Sunshine."
She looked at him with a look of pure disgust.
He kneeled down in front of her and raised her chin with a finger. "What's the matter, little one? You don't like being here?"
She smacked his hand away. "Not at all."
He raised an eyebrow. "Be a little nicer.You're my guest, after all."
"I'm your hell of a prisoner." She spit out bitterly. "I wouldn't be your guest even if you were the last man on this planet."
He laughed. "Brave little witch. Altough you don't mean that."
She rolled her eyes. "Don't I?"
"Nah, cause I don't really want to kill you straight away."
She didn't blink. She didn't want him to see her scared. "You'll do it anyway. So don't pretend you'll leave me alone when you won't. I don't like to be fooled, if you don't mind."
He raised his hand to her face, cupping it. "I don't intend to fool you. I just want to take care of you the way you ought to be taken care of."
She glared at him. "You disgust me." She said, slowly and more bitterly than ever. "You're the most vile, pathetic excuse of a wizard in the Magic World I've ever had the misfortune to meet. You think you're the best just because your blood is bloody pure…but you're the lowest of the low, and soon you'll meet the same fate of your father, Ron will haunt you like a dog for this."
Raven wasn't smirking anymore. His face was twitching in rage, and when he took a step closer to her it was clear that he was just holding himself back. "You bitch." He hissed. "You'll see what happens when a filthy mudblood like you dares to talk that way to me. I'll have you begging for my forgiveness in less than a day."
Hermione glared at him and raised her chin. "I won't do such a thing."
He smirked, and a moment later raised his wand at pointed it at Hermione's chest, just over her heart. "Venomena!"
Hermione stepped back without really breathing for a moment; it was like someone had punched her in the stomach, hard. Then her lungs slowly started having air again…but a sharp pain in her abdomen made her slid down against the wall till she was on the floor, gasping for air.
Raven grinned and put his wand back in his breast pocket. "This, little one, is a very interesting way to show you what kind of power I have on you. With this spell I've just put a good portion of venom into your blood…the more you'll have it into your veins, the more you'll suffer. From now on you'll have twenty-four hours to beg me to help you, but if you won't, then…sorry to waste such a beautiful body, but I'll just let you die."
Hermione felt already weak and feverish, but managed to glare knives at her enemy. "You'd wish."
"Your choice, little one." And with that, he left.
Hermione let out a moan of pain; it felt like there was so much cold out there in that room, but her body was hot and flushed and she was even sweating. A sense of nausea hit her hard, and her vision started to blur. She couldn't help but let two tears slide down her cheeks.
Ron…help me…please…
***************
Ron was wiping at his hands and chest furiously under the shower. He felt dirty and disgusting. He had snogged that filthy bitch, that fucking scum of a woman. It had been absolutely necessary, because she would have understood that he was drugging her otherwise, yet he felt a wave of nausea. Here he was, trying to drown himself under that hot shower, while Master was taking care of her. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Hermione…if that damn bastard was hurting her…just the thought of her getting hurt was enough to make him feel like blood was pumping hard in his veins. His Hermione.
He saw her in his mind. He saw her waving at him, smiling behind a pillow under the light of the moon, laughing at a joke between them, kissing him in that very shower, arching herself while he kissed her intimately, smiling tiredly at him after hours of making love, too tired to do anything but saying one last time 'I love you' before falling into a deep slumber over his chest or between his strong arms…
Ron came out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. God, he hated Raven. He hated everything. There was no way he was going to let anything happen to her. He loved her so much it hurt, and he had to let her know. He had to have her again in his arms, right where she belonged, and never leave her again. Never again.
"Ron?"
Ron heard his best mate's voice and came out of the bathroom to meet him in the dining room. "Did you find it?"
Harry nodded, sitting on the sofa. "It's the connection to that palace, they said if we burn up this" he said, holding out a vial with a bit of grey powder in it "with usual Floo Powder, we'll be able to reach the last place that bloody Lucas went to."
"Good." Ron collapsed heavily on the sofa next to his friend. "That's it. I'm goin' to go tomorrow."
"What about the woman spying on you?"
"Already checked this. Lex offered to help. He'll go to work with a glamour, everyone will see Ron Weasley and not him."
"We're ready, then."
"I'm ready."
Harry glared at him. "I thought we already had this discussion."
Ron shook his head slightly. "Harry, you're my best mate and I really would like so much to have you like my right arm tomorrow…but I can't risk your life. Nor Ginny's happiness." He sighed. "I have to go, or they'll kill Hermione. If she is already…" a lump went straight to his throat. "…if they've hurt her…I can't live without her, so it's ok if I go and risk my life, my everything. It's Hermione and I, or none of us two."
"Thanks for your concern, mate, really…" Harry said, more determined than ever. "But I'm going with you. She's like a sister to me, and Ginny agreeds with me. And, if I remember correctly, none of you two stepped behind me when I was in danger. Or do I have to recall every single moment, starting from the Philosophal Stone?"
Ron sighed and shook his head, then a little smile came out on his lips. "Yeah…I guess I'm more than ok if it's you my partner in this."
"Let's go find our Hermione." Harry smiled confidently.
Ron nodded. "Yeah. We'll find her. Listen, here's my plan…"
I'm still so sorry it took so long to come out! But be kind and review this anyway ^^
I'll try and write the next part in less than six months hopefully! ^^ No, really, I'll try harder! It's not my fault if University is filling so much my time!
Kisses,
Sunshine
