Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I claim to own Harry Potter in anyway, shape or form. He and everything attributed to him, belong to JK Rowling, Warmer Bros and many other franchises. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Sarafina was the name of Dante's sire in the book Twilight Hunger.
Authors Note: Maura is a female Latin name for 'dark'. Or so I've heard. If I'm wrong, please let me know. The chant for the Maura charm is French and a rather rough translation at that. To put it plainly, it means:
Let the darkness show me, that which I wish to see.
Let the darkness reveal to me, only which is real.
Let the darkness show me, what it hides from me.
Anyway: read, review and all that jazz.
Dark Souls
By Bellatrix Black
Chapter Nine: The Maura Curse
"Hush Granger," Draco muttered as he Alohomora'ed the set of locks in front of the Restricted Section. Hermione scowled, but was silent as she and her annoying companion crept past the front stacks and headed towards the creature sections. They had both met in front of the library promptly at ten the next night, hoping to have a relatively early start so they could scour the library as thoroughly as well, possible.
They both entered a large section of books, a sign floating above the section blazing the words Dark Creatures Section. Hermione glanced over her shoulder nervously - - the last thing she wanted was to have come this far only to be caught. Not only that, but she'd be caught with Malfoy, of all people.
"What would Potter and Weasley think?" Draco asked, as if reading her mind. He was lazily skimming the titles of books on one side of the section.
"I'd rather not think of that," she muttered, shaking the thought from her head. He turned to face his female companion. Her back was turned to him and crossed his arms. Leaning against one of the large cabinets, he observed her as she pulled a few books out to skim the first few pages.
Now Hermione was not beautiful, in fact she considered herself to be as far from so and never would be. But she was a girl, a teenage girl who was maturing, which was something Draco now had a moment to take notice of. He hair was still bushy, though no longer frizzy and almost uncontrollable at times, her face still bore that serious and studious face from first year and her personality was something that could never change.
But she was growing up. That much was obvious.
"Malfoy?" Hermione muttered as she scanned the first pages of a large periwinkle book, not looking even looking at him.
"What?"
"We're here to find a book, I'd appreciate it if you'd do so."
He raised an eyebrow at her and she smirked from above her book, before he turned around and began wandering through the various sections. They spent an hour or so going through the section until Hermione threw her hands up in exhaustion and slumped down at one of the study tables.
"That was certainly productive," she muttered sarcastically.
"Well at least we know it's not in the Restricted Section," Draco mumbled as he threw one of the books on top of another rather large and wobbly stack. Unfortunately, he didn't bother to take a moment to steady it and it came crashing down.
"Dammit!"
"Oh calm down," said Hermione as she stood up, made her way over to the books and began packing them up neatly. "Come on, help me pack these up before we leave. The last thing we need is Madame Pince knowing people have been breaking into the Restricted Section. Not if we ever need to do so again in the future."
Draco looked down wearily at the dusty and construed books, "Sorry Granger, but I refuse to lower myself to the level of a house elf."
Hermione snorted and held a large purple volume in front of her, a rather evil glint in her eye.
"Either help pack these up or I'll have another round of 'Whack the Ferret'!"
Draco narrowed his eyes at her, but nonetheless began shuffling the books back into an equally wobbly pile as the first. Hermione hid a small smile of triumph as she watched the young Slytherin in front of her attempt to avoid getting dust on his pale and petite hands.
"Oh please, it's just dust," she muttered and he shot her an annoyed look.
"At least the books my mother sent were clean."
Hermione couldn't argue with that, for the books that Narcissa had sent over were in immaculate condition. Shrugging, she absentmindedly glanced at the titles of the books, which were in front of her.
Ancient Curses… Forgotten Creatures… The Age of Mages…
The young Gryffindor furrowed her brow at the first title. Pulling open the book, she flicked through the pages. Torture methods, transformations, and dark curses. The book seemed to have multiple purposes.
"What have you got there?" Draco asked curiously as he peeked over her shoulder. His eyes lit up as her eyes turned the pages.
"It's just ancient curses and such… why? Do you think it could help?"
"I'm not sure, let me see."
Hermione handed him the book and his face fixed in concentration on the words in front of him. He flipped past a few chapters and finally came upon one of the pages, which seemed to satisfy him and handed the book back to the girl in front of him. She glanced down at it in surprise.
The Maura Curse
One of the curses primary used during the reign of Grindlewald, The Maura Curse was issued upon documents, items and even wizards as a means to see whatever secrets they so possessed. In the case of a person, the curse takes one deep into the bowels of their mind; much like Occlumency and reveals to the wizard/s performing the enchantment, whatever they wish to see.
In the case of an item, the curse is performed to reveal the situation in which it was first and last cursed. Now one may as, why is this a 'dark' curse? The answer is simple. It requires quite a bit of dark magic to perform it and it can be performed on anyone or any object that one is able to touch.
It invades the person or item, stripping them of all the information that the curse performer wishes to receive; it is, also quite dangerous for someone to perform if they are not well trained with the spell. The after effects have been known to be horrific, bloody and can even make the performer mentally unstable.
Hermione drew back from the book and Draco smirked. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together.
"You can't be serious!" she said, shaking her head.
"Granger, we've spent two weeks down in those filthy dungeons just so we can find the least bit of information and now that we have some sure fire way of-"
"Sure fire? You're talking about Dark Magic! It's not only forbidden but it's dangerous! Look! See!" she muttered as she held the book in front of Draco's face and pointed to a passage of words with her index finger. "The after effects have been known to be horrific, bloody and can even make the performer mentally unstable!"
Draco faked a yawn and folded his arms boredly, a stern look on his face.
"Listen, this spell isn't nearly as perilous as it sounds. A lot of the books in the Restricted Section are C-grade dangerous and have to be approved by that oaf Fudge and his team before they even come here. This spell might be a little on the hazardous side, but I assure you that Cornish pixies will have had been a larger challenge."
"And the fact that you're assuring me is supposed to make me feel any safer about it?" Hermione asked darkly. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Temper temper Granger, we're supposed to be trying to get along here," he muttered.
Hermione took a deep breath, her face flushed in slight embarrassment. They were supposed to be trying and she had to admit, for the most part Malfoy had been downright decent; which was a very strange and uncomforting thing as at times, Hermione was worried he was just waiting to jump out from behind her and hex her. Of course, that feeling had disappeared after a few nights in the dungeons.
Or perhaps it had just wavered slightly. Now Hermione was sitting right in front of a boy, who she had despised for five long years and who had made her life a living hell simply because of her parents. How could she ever even attempt to trust him? Was he leading her into some kind of trap?
"I know that right now, you don't want to hear what I have to say and you don't want to do something that will in the least, get you expelled. But would you rather wait around here for my father to find some way to bind Luis, or for Luis to kill someone else before you decide that this mere spell could be worth something?"
Draco looked away from her, towards the piles of books, the stacks and shelves and the small light that was emitting from the fireplace in the unrestricted section of the library. Hermione sighed, and hugged her knees, her eyes darting to the book that sat in her lap and did the one thing she never expected to do.
She agreed with him.
"You're sure?" He questioned suspiciously. "You're not going to wait until I'm about to perform the charm and go running straight to Dumbledore, are you?"
If the situation had not been one of perpetual death, darkness and eternal worry then Hermione probably would have laughed. But instead she just nodded her head solemnly.
"We need to re-bind Luis. If the spell helps, it helps. If it doesn't then there's nothing lost and nothing gained," and then she smiled, almost cunningly. "Besides, if it does backfire I'll just have more concrete evidence to hate you."
"Fair enough," Draco muttered, shrugging and looking down at his watch. "It's almost twelve now. Do you want to wait until tomorrow night or just get it over with?"
"Tonight. I don't want to waste another night simply because of sleep."
~*~*~*~
And so, ten minutes later, the young Slytherin and Gryffindor returned to their dungeon, the black volume in hand. Draco began going over the spell instructions in the book while Hermione listened diligently. They both had to memorise the spell, which was in French.
Hermione was silently glad that she had visited France in her summer before third year. Even though it had been quite awhile since she had spoken the language, she breathed a sigh of relief that the language had stuck and she wouldn't be embarrassing herself any further in front of Malfoy.
"You have to have your full concentration on the journal at the time," he pointed out and Hermione nodded as she silently retrieved a small black book from her robes pocket. Luis' journal. She ran her fingers over the scarlet letters that spelt out his name and remembered the nights she would go to bed with his words running through her head.
"All right, that's everything I guess," Draco muttered as he closed Ancient Curses and left it on his stool. A large desk now sat in the middle of the dungeon, which was where Hermione sat, the small journal in front of her.
Her worries had not died down, but they did not surface entirely. She kept telling herself that Harry had done almost the same thing. He had entered Tom Riddle's journal and lived to tell the tale, not mentally scarred or beaten to a pulp.
"Right, are you certain about this Malfoy?" she asked once again that night.
"It'll be fine. You might feel a bit queasy come tomorrow morning, but you should still be in one piece," he murmured as he flipped open the cover of Luis' journal. "Just follow the instructions like the book said and no matter what happens, concentrate. The things you might see may not be nice, but don't let yourself become overwhelmed by them."
"Why are you being so pleasant?" she suddenly asked and Draco stood, taken aback. She raised an eyebrow and tapped her foot against the stone floor impatiently. It was a rather a straightforward question, but apparently it was one that Master Malfoy had trouble answering.
"Because sometimes cooperation makes situations a lot more easier than having to fight with you over every little detail," he said plainly and Hermione blinked. They were both silent for a moment, the only noise in the room coming from the fireplace which sparked embers in front of them.
"So concentration is the key?" Hermione muttered, turning towards Luis journal, hoping to break the untimely silence.
"Indeed."
With that, they turned their wands to the journal in front of them. Hermione took a deep breath, preparing herself to do something she never imagined herself doing as she heard Draco's voice begin chanting softly next to her.
Laissez l'obscurité me montrer, celui ce que je souhaite voir.
Laissez l'obscurité indiquer à moi, seulement ce qui est vrai.
Laissez l'obscurité me montrer, ce qu'il cache de moi.
Hermione closed her eyes until all she could hear was Draco's voice barely whispering as he stood but a step behind her. His breath grazed her cheek and she found it slightly distracting as she softly began chanting under her breath.
'Concentrate,' she told herself as she held her wand towards the journal.
Laissez l'obscurité me montrer, celui ce que je souhaite voir.
She felt Draco's shoulder brush hers as he leant forward, brandishing his wand at the unsuspecting journal. Hermione bit her lip, one last tremble of worry passing through her.
Laissez l'obscurité indiquer à moi, seulement ce qui est vrai.
'Am I doing the right thing?' her mind raged. 'Is helping the Malfoy's the right thing? All Luis wants is to be free!'
'Yes,' she answered herself back. 'But the cost of Luis' freedom is much too high a price to pay.'
Laissez l'obscurité me montrer, ce qu'il cache de moi.
And then suddenly Hermione felt herself being pulled forward, her body warmed by a bright light in front that surrounded herself and Draco. Suddenly, not knowing what she was doing really, she gripped tightly to Draco's wrist. She could hear his breath catch in his throat, but he continued to whisper the chant and Hermione's head began to spin. It ached and just when she thought she couldn't take it any more, it stopped.
"Open your eyes Hermione," came a quivering voice next to her. Reluctantly, Hermione opened her eyes slowly, glancing around herself. Draco was sitting next to her. Well, slouching was a more appropriate term. His face was pink and his breathing was rapid, like he had been running a long distance and had sat down to catch his breath.
"Where are we?" she said softly, glancing at the people in front of her. They were sitting in the middle of a large street, though it didn't look the faintest bit familiar. The few men and woman passing by didn't seem to even notice them sitting right there in front of them all. It was night and the stone ground beneath them was damp and stank slightly of horse dung.
"I'm guessing this is where the journal's chosen to take us," said Draco, his voice stronger than before as he stood up, dusting off his robes.
"Well that's obvious, Draco," she retorted, a small cheeky glimmer in her eye. His flushed cheeks reddened slightly as realisation struck him, but he promptly turned around.
"A slip of the tongue, I assure you it won't happen again," he muttered smartly.
Hermione got up from the ground, the pounding in her head lessening as she looked around her. There was barely anyone in the street now. She gripped her wand tightly; a faint eerie feeling pass through her as the dimly lit street echoed the sound of faint footsteps.
"Someone's coming," Draco murmured. She shot him a worried look, but he merely directed her towards an empty alleyway to their right. "Obviously this place held some significance, but I doubt that if we're seen, things will be pleasant."
"When Harry entered Tom Riddle's diary, he said he couldn't interact with anyone at all. It was like he was just watching."
A confused look passed over Draco's face; "Potter entered Riddle's journal?"
Hermione nodded slowly, suddenly remembering that this was Malfoy was she talking to. It wasn't Ron or Harry who by her side now, but 'ferret boy' who seemed almost shocked by her small revelation.
"I'm glad you came," a soft voice echoed into the alleyway. The two teenagers quickly turned and peered out across from the alley corner. Standing only ten feet away was a tall woman. Her raven-black hair and her demure demeanour made Hermione shudder slightly.
"I've surprised myself by doing so."
Another soft voice echoed out from the shadows. Squinting into the darkness, Hermione realised that it was indeed Luis standing there. His apparel and dress were different from that when she had last seen him in her dreams, but she realised it was because of the time period. Most they were probably in the early 1800's. He had large black buckled boots on his feet; his body was covered in a tailor made vest, pants and a white, puffy shirt.
Draco remained hushed, not daring to say a word in case he were to interrupt the meeting before him.
"Well, why have you asked me here?" Luis questioned darkly as he stepped into the dim streetlight of one of the lit up torches.
"I see you're straight to the point."
"Speak Alexandra, for I do not have time for games."
Hermione curled her fingers around the corner of the brick wall. So this was Alexandra. Needless to say, she seemed to be everything Luis had mentioned in his journal. A tall, dark beauty … his beauty.
"I've come to make peace with you," Alexandra spoke up. "I do wish for you to just forget your sire, not after everything we've been through together. And I do not merely wish to forget the young man I've entrusted so much time into."
Luis frowned slightly, his silver locks shimmering slightly as he bowed his head in mock appreciation.
"It's been fifty years, why now?"
"Because I have waited long enough. At some point and time I lost you, but I do not want our past to have been in vain."
'Fifty years...' Hermione whispered, remembering their parting in the journal. Luis had walked away from her to start his own life. Yes, she remembered that. Draco shot her a quieting look, though it was obvious that he himself was slightly confused by her words.
"I shall not return to your side, you know this already."
Alexandra gave him a mock look of surprise and Luis scowled.
"I knew you would not be swayed back to me my dark prince. But I have a peace offering, that is all."
"A peace offering?"
"Yes, something I hope may some day, allow you to forgive me for keeping you to myself. Something that may help you reflect and remember the years we had together."
And reaching into her long black robes, Alexandra withdrew a small black book. Draco squinted in front of him, before realising that it was the journal. The woman holding it held it out to the Malfoy in front of her. Luis pursed his lips as he examined the small gift in his hands. He ran his hand over the crimson words, which scrolled his name across the cover, noting the opened clasp. The Malfoy flipped it over opened and glanced curiously at the empty pages.
"What is this?" he asked lamely and Alexandra sneered.
"A journal. One in which I can only hope will help you remember the past we once shared."
Luis glanced down at the book in his hands once more.
"Is that all you wanted?"
"If I were to answer yes, would you simply bid me good day and leave me standing here in the dark?" she asked softly, her red lips curling into a malevolent smirk.
"I have my answer then," he muttered. "Good bye Alexandra."
Like a true gentleman, he tipped his head, before tucking the journal into one of his pockets and strode off into the shadows. Alexandra stood there, annoyed and surprised as her protégé simply walked away from her.
"Damn you Luis," she hissed under her breath, tugging her cloak around herself tightly and wandering over to one of the buildings. "You shall get what you deserve, I assure you."
Meanwhile, the two teenagers were still standing in the alley, absorbing the new information presented to them. Hermione however didn't seem surprised to say the least. She had known that Luis was bitter towards Alexandra ever since he had abandoned her in London, but apparently his grudges could go on for quite some time.
Well, his grudge with his family had lasted centuries. It was less startling when she thought of it that way.
"So now we know where Luis got the journal from."
Draco was resting against one of the walls, his face expressionless as he spoke, he was tapping his wand lightly against the wall behind him. Hermione didn't get a chance to reply, as once again she felt the world around her become warm and she scrunched her eyes shut as a bright light appeared once more, surrounding herself and Draco. The aura was comforting, but hurt slightly as she felt herself jolt, barrelling forward once more and the familiar pounding in her head returned.
And just as quick as it had begun, the feeling evaporated and she opened her eyes once more. Draco was sprawled in front of her. He hoisted himself up off the ground quickly.
"We really need to some sort of warning for that kind of thing," he mumbled.
Hermione nodded, "Well hopefully it'll all be over soon and we can get out of here."
She ran her fingers over a small cut on her hand before standing up, lighting her wand and taking in her surroundings. It would seem that this time, they were in a rather large forest. Tree's surfaced as far as her eyes could see and fallen leaves and twigs swam around her feet. All Hermione could do was predict it was night.
"I guess it's my turn to ask 'where the hell are we?'" Draco asked as he peered between tree to tree for any sign of light or life other than himself, Hermione and their wands.
"Well, we're obviously here for a reason, let's find out," she answered as she began trudging through a mass of knee high leaves in a spontaneous direction.
"Hold it Granger, how do you know that if we leave here, we might just walk away and miss whatever is going to happen?"
She pondered this for a second, glancing over her shoulder as if expecting for there to be a sudden change take place. The whole area seemed to be abandoned; they'd not even seen a bird or animal since they had arrived.
"Fine, if you've got a better idea, you may as well tell me."
Draco scowled as he held his wand out in front of him, 'scoping' the area around him and his companion. It did seem rather… well… dead. The wind wasn't blowing, the air was tight and musty and the deadly silence surrounding him wasn't comforting in the least. Hermione tapped her foot impatiently (or attempted to, as it was rather hard when you've got bounds of leaves covering them) before she heard soft voices in the distance.
"Malfoy," she murmured, tugging lightly on his sleeve. He turned around to face her, his pale face illuminated by his wand.
"What?"
"Listen."
There was silence once again. He gave her a questioningly look, before they both heard the voices. They were closer this time, yet undefinable.
"Put out your wand," Draco instructed as he whispered the counter charm. They were now both cloaked in darkness, the silence once again enveloping them and Hermione felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest.
What was going on? Who did the voices belong to? How long would they be standing there before something happened?
"Malfoy?" she whispered weakly.
"What Granger?"
"Where are you?"
"I'm standing where I was the last time you could see me."
Hermione took a deep breath and as quietly as she could, amid the crackling leaves, edged her way to Draco's side. She could feel the heat radiating off of his body as she neared him and she thanked god that there was someone else out here with her, even if it was Malfoy.
"What're you doing?" he asked, clearly surprised.
"Shhh, they'll hear us," she muttered, slightly embarrassed by her own fear. Generally, Hermione wasn't afraid of the dark. But something about being in a completely different time, in a very unfamiliar place with a very uncertain future made her nervous.
The voices in the distance sounded once again, but this time they were close enough to be heard. Hermione spied the small flicker of torchlight out of the corner of her eye.
"Where the fuck are we going?" one of them hissed.
"It's Luis," Hermione whispered to Draco.
"How do you know?"
"I just do."
"You wanted Cassius, did you not? Now I'm bringing you straight to him and you're acting so rude," An unfamiliar voice echoed next to him.
"Tell me, what's stopping me from ripping your throat out, Sarafina?" growled Luis.
"Because you've already done that," she retorted.
Luis snorted, "I would have left you for dead if I'd have known you'd be leading me into a wild goose chase in the middle of Buckleberry Forest."
"He's not too far ahead, just be patient Luis."
The two figures neared Draco and Hermione, the torch Luis held bathed them in light, but he took no notice of them at all. He brushed past them both without even registering their presence and Sarafina did the same.
"Odd…" Draco muttered as Luis and his companion walked a stone's throw away from them.
"I'm guessing they can't see or hear us," said Hermione as she took a step back from the boy next to her and began following the vampires that were walking in front of her. Draco eyed her warily, but it seemed that the young Gryffindor had been correct and he soon fell in line.
"How did you manage to get Cassius to come out here?" questioned Luis.
"I told him I had news of you and didn't trust telling him in public. He suggested we meet at one of the Malfoy family crypt's, this is apparently the closest one."
Luis muttered something incoherent under his breath and Sarafina smirked.
"Oddly enough, these two remind me slightly of you and Parkinson," chortled Hermione, silent amusement playing on her face.
Draco shot her a dark look but she ignored it, preferring to try to listen in on the conversation of those in front of her. They continued through the forest, conversing back and forth between each other until they finally came across a large clearing; half of which was covered in a large, pewter building. Statues of snakes were placed at each corner and scrawled across the top in large cursive letters were the words, The Most Sacred Memorial of Malfoys.
"Where the fuck is he?" Luis spat, annoyance plastered across his face.
"Patience is a virtue, my dark prince," a silky voice came from the woman next to him. He glanced at her, almost in shock before a large beam of sunlight shot through the woods, hitting him square in the chest.
"What on earth…" Hermione trailed off.
Out from the tree's stepped a tall, pale man. His pointed face and silver blonde hair were a familiarity as he removed his hood; still pointing his wand at the vampire that lay sprawled on the ground.
"I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and say he's a Malfoy," said Draco plainly. He observed the predicament with reserved reverence, clutching his wand tightly inside his robes. Even if they couldn't see them, it didn't mean they couldn't be hexed. Magic was a strange thing.
"And I'm going to do the same and say that that's Alexandra," exclaimed Hermione, pointing to Sarafina who was now being confronted by the wizard Malfoy.
"Here he is Cassius, as promised. I trust you shall live up to your part of the bargain?" Sarafina said sweetly, her dark blonde curls suddenly dripping away, leaving behind the familiar raven-haired beauty. Cassius' smirked and he ran one long finger along her lips.
"The journal, then you shall go and we are to never meet again."
Alexandra withdrew the journal from her robes, tossing it in his hands and turning towards Luis, who was struggling to his feet.
"I told you that you would regret leaving me Luis."
"You double crossing bitch!" he spat.
She pursed her lips and cupped his chin in her hand: "You brought this upon yourself. I tried to warn you, to make you see that your family's wrath can extend to even the dirty of the magical world. Perhaps you should have listened to me, but either way, consider this my final lesson for you."
And with that she turned her back to him, giving Cassius one last sneer before wandering into the forest and letting the darkness envelope herself.
"Lumos Olem!" Cassius cried, causing another beam of light to shoot from his wand at Luis. The vampire flew back; crashing into one of the snake-like statues which guarded the large Malfoy crypt.
Hermione cringed at the look of pain on Luis' face. She turned away and faced Draco.
"We should go, I don't want to see this."
"If you don't want to watch, then go," he said plainly as he diligently watched his ancestor torture his ancestor. Hermione hesitated, looking from one Malfoy, to another and to the other. Should she go? Could she? It wasn't like she could stop what was happening, and even if she could, would it be the right thing to do?
"This is just a memory Granger. We can't change what happens in it, but we can observe and learn from it."
Hermione nodded slowly, turning back to the two men in front of them.
"Where is Augustus' body?!" Cassius ordered. Luis laughed, which was a rather painful feat as many of his ribs were broken at the time.
"You're a smart chap, figure it out for yourself."
Another beam of sunlight. Another muffled scream.
"You'll regret this Luis, I swore it the night my father died and now with the help of your own sire, I shall make true on my promise!"
"And what are you going to do young Malfoy?" spat the battered and bruised vampire. "Kill me? Do so and you become nothing more than I! Oh how Theoden would have loved that!"
"Don't you dare speak my father's name!"
"I'll do as I please you lowly worm!"
"Expelliarmus!"
Luis went flying into the crypt, a blood thirty look on Cassius' face as he stormed inside after him.
"Are you coming?" Draco asked as he himself began following the man before him.
Hermione shook and nodded her head at the same time. Eventually, she just followed behind him until they were both standing inside the large, dusty and barren mausoleum.
Luis lay slumped against one of the walls, his face cut and bleeding, his chest and arms burnt. He was panting, gasping for breath – something he rarely did as he didn't need to breath. Cassius smirked broadly and pushed the lid of one of the stone caskets off. A loud thud filled the crypt as it hit the floor, but he ignored it as he discarded his wand and grabbed Luis by his hair.
"This, Luis, is what I call your end. You've sealed your fate, welcome to hell."
And with that, with all his might, he carried the vampire over to the large stone coffin and slumped him inside. Luis could barely speak as he attempted to pull himself up. But his strength was slipping away, oh so slowly. Cassius let a hard punch against the vampire's cheek, making Luis fall back.
Cassius retrieved his wand and used it to replace the lid on the coffin. He placed Luis' journal on top of the coffin, withdrew a book from his robes and began reading softly from it. Luis began banging softly from inside, his screams muffled by the large and heavy stone top placed above him.
Hermione whimpered softly and Draco, suprising even himself, placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"It's just a memory," he whispered and she nodded mournfully as Luis' screams grew louder.
And then Cassius sealed the coffin with his wand; a dark green light forever closing it before it absorbed itself into the journal. The clasp of the journal, which had been open since the day Luis had received it, then closed. And all was silent. Luis' screams were gone and Cassius smirked, satisfied. He placed both books back into his robes and turned around, striding out of the mausoleum quickly.
Speechless, Hermione wandered over to the coffin. She took a deep breath to steady herself and leant against the casket, swallowing the large lump that had formed in the base of her throat.
"Is it over?" she whispered.
"It's over."
~*~*~*~
And the same, now familiar feeling jolted her forward. She closed her eyes once more and the next thing she knew when she opened them was she was back in the dungeons. Sitting up, Hermione glanced over at Draco, who was shaking the wooziness from his head. She ran a finger down the spine of the small black journal in front of her. It was still here, the same as she had left it.
"We're back," she said plainly and Draco nodded.
"That was certainly…"
"Suprising?"
"I was going to say exhilarating, but yes, suprising."
Hermione stood up, her legs regaining their strength as she slipped Luis' journal into her pocket and went to retrieve her bag. Silently, she cursed herself for her frightened behaviour in the crypt. How on earth could she have been so stupid as to let Malfoy see her when she was afraid? She could just imagine all the little taunts he could come up with.
"Granger?"
She ignored him, throwing some of her notes back into her bag.
"Granger?" he repeated and she stopped.
"Yes?"
Draco got up from his chair and muffled a yawn as he held out her wand.
"You left this on the table," he murmured and Hermione looked up at in him surprise. She glanced back and forth between Draco and the wand.
"Thank-you," she managed to say as she slowly slipped the wand out of his fingers and placed it in her robes. They stood there, staring at each other awkwardly for a few minutes. Draco opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it when nothing came out. He opted for returning some of the books strewn around the room back to their crates rather than speaking.
"Well, I can't really say we learnt anything from that spell at all Malfoy," said Hermione, silently wishing for the unusual atmosphere to disapparate. Suddenly, she heard a deep, sharp laugh come from across the room and to her utmost surprise, she found a large grin plastered across Draco's face.
"Actually, I would say we learnt a whole lot from it," he muttered certainly as he threw the last two books into the crate. Hermione furrowed her brow.
"OK, if you're so smart, what is that we 'learnt'?"
"Well Granger, did you happen to notice the book Cassius was reading from?" he asked, raising an ever observant eyebrow.
Hermione almost kicked herself for being so ignorant. Of course! The book! It contained the spell that Cassius used. Now all they needed to do was find it.
"I was a bit… distracted."
To her surprise, Draco didn't smirk. Instead he just put out the fire in the fireplace without giving her another glance.
"The book was called Da Firorenna Grimorum. I've seen it somewhere, I just can't remember where."
Hermione's heart skipped a beat. They knew how to bind Luis. It was almost all over. If anything, Lucius Malfoy should be able to bind Luis now on his own. Cassius had done so. Wouldn't he be able to?
"So what do we do now? I mean, you know the book. Will your father be able to take care of everything from here on in?" she asked hopefully.
A curious look passed over Draco's face, "Are you really that desperate to get away from me Granger?"
Hermione blinked. This was certainly a rather different question she would have expected from Draco, especially since his tone and face had been so damned serious. And then Hermione realised it. Deep down inside, she was rather reluctant to let this Draco she knew just disappear and perhaps he knew that.
"Do you want me to be honest?" she asked softly and he nodded.
"When this is all over, there may just be a seed of regret in me that won't let me forget and throw away the days I've spent with you here in the dungeon. Or, the memories I shall always have of what happened within Luis' journal."
Hermione hid her face, rather embarrassed once more that night. She bit her lip as Draco remained silent, merely standing ten feet away watching her with his ever-observant eyes.
"Do you want me to be honest with you?" his soft voice coursed and she nodded slowly.
"Some part of me is still in that journal, worrying just how much Luis is destroying you from the inside out."
"You worry about me?" she asked suddenly, instantly wishing she could retract the words. His lips curled slightly as he lit his wand and walked the distance between them.
"I may be an evil, cynical bastard most of the time, but there are moments where I'm still human."
"And blatant," she added.
"Yes, blatant as well. But now, I think it's time that we retire for the night. It is almost four in the morning and I doubt many of the Professors would look upon it very kindly if we're not awake during lessons."
Hermione almost smiled as she slung her bag over her shoulder. Draco gave her the most smallest and lopsided of grins, before he turned back to the crates and began shifting them into a corner of the room -- their regular holding place. Heading for the door, she glanced once more over her shoulder at the young man across the room.
"Draco?" she said, barely above a whisper. He turned around in surprise, giving her a questioning look. She shuffled her feet absentmindedly. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For not being the evil, blatant, cynical bastard when you could have been."
With that, he gave her one last weak smile, before turning back to the crates. Hermione stood there, contemplating his words, before she walked out the door, heading back towards Gryffindor Tower for some much deserved hours of sleep.
~ENDCHAPTER9~
Authors Note: OK, let me just say that I hated writing this chapter. Why? Because I've rewritten it and lost my muse more times than I could count. It was rather long, which was a bonus as much as a curse. I wanted to get it all into one large chapter, though I must say that Draco and Hermione's behaviour in this chapter will deeply affect upcoming chapters. It took me three days to get it to where it is now, so if you don't like it, BITE ME.
Either way, FINALLY I'm getting somewhere with Draco and Hermione. So, we've seen a lot, learnt a lot. Happy people? Please review. I'll love you and I'll know that my time was not wasted.