The Dark's Mistress
Chapter Seven
By Alicia Marie Jennings
~*~*~*~
A figure clad in black knelt at the feet of Lord Voldemort. Trembling only slightly, he leaned forward and kissed the hem of the evil minion's robe, and then, raising his head, kissed the ring on Voldemort's finger.
"Ahh, my faithful servant..." said Voldemort, smiling a thin, lipless smile. "You shall be rewarded, my faithful one. For we have the Granger girl in custody."
"Very good, m'lord," said the servant, speaking softly.
"With your contributions, I will now have an heir. Two of our number are...doing a bit of "convincing", shall we say...she shall submit to me soon. She must submit to me soon..." Voldemort looked at his hands. "I am dying, faithful one...see? My skin is betraying me already..." Clasping his hands again, Voldemort spoke again. "As long as I can hold on until the baby is born...then I can formally invest him as my heir before I pass on. However...a protector will be installed until my heir is of age."
"Who will this be, m'lord, if you do not care if I ask?"
"As your reward, I will install you as protectorate until my heir has reached the age of eighteen. You have earned it, my faithful one."
Seamus Finnigan smiled.
~
Hermione awoke, shivering, and wincing at newfound injuries. Her blouse was torn, her arms were bloody and her head was pounding once more. She sensed a presence in the room.
She was not alone.
Hermione moved to sit up, but the cell door was thrown open and she was scooped up into the arms of a Death Eater. She passed out again, not wanting to awake ever again.
~
"Ron, Ginny, we need to talk," said Harry firmly. He had just entered the common room to see the two Weasley siblings in the middle of a game of chess.
"Can't it wait?" Ron said, exasperation lacing his tones. "I've almost got Ginny checkmated -"
"Ron, we need to talk now."
"Harry -" Ron was cut off by Harry slamming his fist down on the chessboard, scattering the pieces across the board and onto the common room floor.
"Damn it, Ron, I said we needed to talk! It's about Hermione!"
"She never talks to us anymore, Harry! What should I have to do with her?"
Harry grabbed Ron's collar, pulling him out of the chair and putting his nose very close to Ron's. "Did it ever occur to you," Harry seethed, his voice low, "That Hermione might be doing something to save us all from Voldemort? You know she's in the Order. Didn't it *ever* occur to you that she might be on Order business?" From the way Ron's mouth was opening and closing like a fish, Harry could see that it hadn't. "Good God, Ron. I myself am gone a lot. I can't always hang around with you anymore. We're nearly adults! We have obligations to fulfill!"
Harry released Ron, who stumbled backwards, rubbing at his throat. Harry's shoulders slumped, and he sat down roughly on the couch. Ginny came over, timidly, and sat beside him. When he didn't look over at her, she took his hand gently and spoke aloud, her voice trembling.
"She's been taken, hasn't she?"
Ron's eyes grew large, and he looked at Harry, whose head was in his hands. Harry raised his head and nodded.
Tears began to course down Ginny's cheeks.
~
"Awaken...awaken my temptress...awake and see what awaits you..."
The voice Hermione was hearing seemed to be coming from a thick, hazy fog. She moaned softly, not sure if she wanted to wake and live or to slip back into darkness and pray that Thanatos come to collect her. The voice kept calling and try as she might, she could not make herself go back to the darkness. She opened her eyes slowly, wincing at the light. *If I had been run over by a herd of hippogriffs, I'd feel better than this,* she thought, as her brain began registering the pinpricks of pain all over her body. *Pinpricks? No, make that full-fledged hypodermic needles...oh Hermione, shut up, only you would be thinking thoughts such as this...* She sat up slowly, and unlike last time managed to stay conscious.
Her clothing had changed. She was now wearing something silk...green silk...it was a very short nightie, with a deep plunging neckline, held up with spaghetti straps. On her feet were green silk ballet-esque slippers, and she wore a floor-length black lace bed jacket over all. And then she really blushed - for she realized she wore no underwear beneath this getup.
"Ahh yes, Hermione...I do hope you didn't mind us slipping you into something a bit more...comfortable." Voldemort lounged on his throne. In his relaxed state he was not only not as scary, but Hermione could also view his decaying state of health. There were bluish tinges around the thin mouth, and quite frankly...he looked frail. Fearing she might be ill if she looked at him longer, she averted her eyes, only to see a darkly-clad figure lying on the floor a short distance away from her. She crawled over and gently laid a hand on the figure's shoulder, turning him toward her.
"Hermione..."
"Severus!" Her chin trembled, and her eyes filled with tears. "Oh love, what have they done to you?!?!" Snape was bruised, battered, cut...she lay a hand to his forehead. He burned with fever. Keeping her own cool hand on his forehead, she turned to face Voldemort, her eyes reflecting anger. "He's got to receive medical attention! He'll die! Please, please, send him back to Hogwarts!"
Voldemort sighed. "My dear...I can only send Severus back...for a price. For a price that only you can pay."
Hermione looked at Severus...the man she loved. The man who had fought so hard for the Resistance, and who was near death. Looking at him, Hermione figured that it would take only one more well-placed hex to finish him off...but if she were to do Voldemort's bidding...perhaps he would be sent back..
"Hermione..." Severus whispered, his voice full of pain, "It's a trap. Don't do it. You won't accomplish anything!"
Hermione took his hand, trying to soothe him. "Severus, I can't just sit here and watch you die! I have to try."
"Hermione, please -" He began to cough. Hermione's eyes widened in horror as little flecks of blood appeared on his hand where he held it to cover his mouth. When he recovered, he continued. "Please don't do this!"
"I'm sorry, Severus," Hermione said softly, before placing a feather-light kiss on his lips. "But I must."
"Hermione!" She stood, facing Voldemort. Snape sat up. "Hermione, no!"
She simply looked at the Dark Lord and nodded. Snape collapsed back onto the ground again, unconscious.
~
A vision danced in front of his eyes.
Two adults, whom he didn't know. Muggles, he could tell, by their clothing. Held tightly in the woman's arms was a little bundle, wrapped up in a pink blanket with lace trim. Inside was a beautiful baby girl, with wispy light brown hair...Hermione.
A flash. The scene had changed. Now it was a little girl sitting in a gradeschool classroom. As her classmates struggled to finish their work, she sat, bored, having completed it all. The teacher looked at it, marking it with a zero. "You must have cheated. No first grader can finish this that quickly."
Flash. A seven-year-old girl with frizzy hair, tucked back in a bow, cradling a baby. Of course...her younger sister, Juliet. Her mother joined them, and her father took a Polaroid of the three.
Flash...an eleven year old girl, insecure, putting on a bossy facade to hide the fact that she had entered a world she was unfarmiliar with. She talked with two young boys, one with messy black hair, a scar, and a pair of broken glasses. With a flash of her wand, the glasses were like new.
Flash. Fourteen, in periwinkle robes, her hair swept up elegantly in a smooth bun, waltzing with Durmstrang champion of the Triwizard tournament, Viktor Krum. Potter looked on with astonishment, Weasley, with jealousy. He himself had observed her that night, and marveled at the woman she had become.
Flash, Dumbledore's office. He sat beside a frightened seventeen year old, and watched himself and her converse. They rose from their chairs and exited the office together, an invisible bond between them.
The reason she was here...is because she wanted to save his life.
She cared for him.
She even loved him.
Snape wrenched away from the world of dreams, coming, full force, into the world of wakefulness. He arrived just in time to see the doors burst open, light sillhouetting a slim figure in black Hogwarts robes in the doorway.
~
"TOM RIDDLE! YOU WILL TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER NOW!"
Snape started at hearing Harry Potter burst out like so. There was raw power behind his words, he could sense it. And apparently, so could Voldemort. He flung Hermione away roughly, and she landed on the floor next to Severus.
Harry moved quickly. In one smooth motion, he had crossed the room, arriving at the dais. He grabbed two wands - Severus' and Hermione's - and flung them towards their owners. And then the fight began.
"Severus?" Hermione laid a hand on his forehead. "Oh, Severus, please wake up, I need you more than ever..."
|I'm awake, I just can't muster the energy to make a noise!| he thought furiously. He kept trying while she administered healing spells, finally extracting a nearly soundless moan.
"Severus?" she whispered, daring to hope. She finished the healing spells, and he felt his energy slowly ebbing back to him. "Oh thank the Gods you're all right."
"Of course I am, love," he said softly. He quickly gave her a kiss. "No matter what happens, I'll always love you."
"And I you." Hermione grabbed her wand, and handed Snape his.
"On three..." She murmurred, joining Harry, Snape alongside her. "One...two..."
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Green light erupted, sending Voldemort backwards. Hermione, Harry and Snape stepped forward, and Hermione nearly tripped over something that made a metallic noise against the rough stone floor. She bent down to pick up a sword, briefly looking at the hilt, which was encrusted with rubies.
Godric Gryffindor.
Suddenly, it was as if Hermione had known all along what she must do. She looked at Voldemort's fallen form, her hand tightening around the hilt. Something gleamed in her eyes. It was courage...it was fear, all at once. She quickly strode over to the body, raising the sword high, over her head, and drove it through the black heart of Lord Voldemort.
~
Sorry I haven't posted in so long...please review! Only one more chapter!
Love Alicia
Chapter Seven
By Alicia Marie Jennings
~*~*~*~
A figure clad in black knelt at the feet of Lord Voldemort. Trembling only slightly, he leaned forward and kissed the hem of the evil minion's robe, and then, raising his head, kissed the ring on Voldemort's finger.
"Ahh, my faithful servant..." said Voldemort, smiling a thin, lipless smile. "You shall be rewarded, my faithful one. For we have the Granger girl in custody."
"Very good, m'lord," said the servant, speaking softly.
"With your contributions, I will now have an heir. Two of our number are...doing a bit of "convincing", shall we say...she shall submit to me soon. She must submit to me soon..." Voldemort looked at his hands. "I am dying, faithful one...see? My skin is betraying me already..." Clasping his hands again, Voldemort spoke again. "As long as I can hold on until the baby is born...then I can formally invest him as my heir before I pass on. However...a protector will be installed until my heir is of age."
"Who will this be, m'lord, if you do not care if I ask?"
"As your reward, I will install you as protectorate until my heir has reached the age of eighteen. You have earned it, my faithful one."
Seamus Finnigan smiled.
~
Hermione awoke, shivering, and wincing at newfound injuries. Her blouse was torn, her arms were bloody and her head was pounding once more. She sensed a presence in the room.
She was not alone.
Hermione moved to sit up, but the cell door was thrown open and she was scooped up into the arms of a Death Eater. She passed out again, not wanting to awake ever again.
~
"Ron, Ginny, we need to talk," said Harry firmly. He had just entered the common room to see the two Weasley siblings in the middle of a game of chess.
"Can't it wait?" Ron said, exasperation lacing his tones. "I've almost got Ginny checkmated -"
"Ron, we need to talk now."
"Harry -" Ron was cut off by Harry slamming his fist down on the chessboard, scattering the pieces across the board and onto the common room floor.
"Damn it, Ron, I said we needed to talk! It's about Hermione!"
"She never talks to us anymore, Harry! What should I have to do with her?"
Harry grabbed Ron's collar, pulling him out of the chair and putting his nose very close to Ron's. "Did it ever occur to you," Harry seethed, his voice low, "That Hermione might be doing something to save us all from Voldemort? You know she's in the Order. Didn't it *ever* occur to you that she might be on Order business?" From the way Ron's mouth was opening and closing like a fish, Harry could see that it hadn't. "Good God, Ron. I myself am gone a lot. I can't always hang around with you anymore. We're nearly adults! We have obligations to fulfill!"
Harry released Ron, who stumbled backwards, rubbing at his throat. Harry's shoulders slumped, and he sat down roughly on the couch. Ginny came over, timidly, and sat beside him. When he didn't look over at her, she took his hand gently and spoke aloud, her voice trembling.
"She's been taken, hasn't she?"
Ron's eyes grew large, and he looked at Harry, whose head was in his hands. Harry raised his head and nodded.
Tears began to course down Ginny's cheeks.
~
"Awaken...awaken my temptress...awake and see what awaits you..."
The voice Hermione was hearing seemed to be coming from a thick, hazy fog. She moaned softly, not sure if she wanted to wake and live or to slip back into darkness and pray that Thanatos come to collect her. The voice kept calling and try as she might, she could not make herself go back to the darkness. She opened her eyes slowly, wincing at the light. *If I had been run over by a herd of hippogriffs, I'd feel better than this,* she thought, as her brain began registering the pinpricks of pain all over her body. *Pinpricks? No, make that full-fledged hypodermic needles...oh Hermione, shut up, only you would be thinking thoughts such as this...* She sat up slowly, and unlike last time managed to stay conscious.
Her clothing had changed. She was now wearing something silk...green silk...it was a very short nightie, with a deep plunging neckline, held up with spaghetti straps. On her feet were green silk ballet-esque slippers, and she wore a floor-length black lace bed jacket over all. And then she really blushed - for she realized she wore no underwear beneath this getup.
"Ahh yes, Hermione...I do hope you didn't mind us slipping you into something a bit more...comfortable." Voldemort lounged on his throne. In his relaxed state he was not only not as scary, but Hermione could also view his decaying state of health. There were bluish tinges around the thin mouth, and quite frankly...he looked frail. Fearing she might be ill if she looked at him longer, she averted her eyes, only to see a darkly-clad figure lying on the floor a short distance away from her. She crawled over and gently laid a hand on the figure's shoulder, turning him toward her.
"Hermione..."
"Severus!" Her chin trembled, and her eyes filled with tears. "Oh love, what have they done to you?!?!" Snape was bruised, battered, cut...she lay a hand to his forehead. He burned with fever. Keeping her own cool hand on his forehead, she turned to face Voldemort, her eyes reflecting anger. "He's got to receive medical attention! He'll die! Please, please, send him back to Hogwarts!"
Voldemort sighed. "My dear...I can only send Severus back...for a price. For a price that only you can pay."
Hermione looked at Severus...the man she loved. The man who had fought so hard for the Resistance, and who was near death. Looking at him, Hermione figured that it would take only one more well-placed hex to finish him off...but if she were to do Voldemort's bidding...perhaps he would be sent back..
"Hermione..." Severus whispered, his voice full of pain, "It's a trap. Don't do it. You won't accomplish anything!"
Hermione took his hand, trying to soothe him. "Severus, I can't just sit here and watch you die! I have to try."
"Hermione, please -" He began to cough. Hermione's eyes widened in horror as little flecks of blood appeared on his hand where he held it to cover his mouth. When he recovered, he continued. "Please don't do this!"
"I'm sorry, Severus," Hermione said softly, before placing a feather-light kiss on his lips. "But I must."
"Hermione!" She stood, facing Voldemort. Snape sat up. "Hermione, no!"
She simply looked at the Dark Lord and nodded. Snape collapsed back onto the ground again, unconscious.
~
A vision danced in front of his eyes.
Two adults, whom he didn't know. Muggles, he could tell, by their clothing. Held tightly in the woman's arms was a little bundle, wrapped up in a pink blanket with lace trim. Inside was a beautiful baby girl, with wispy light brown hair...Hermione.
A flash. The scene had changed. Now it was a little girl sitting in a gradeschool classroom. As her classmates struggled to finish their work, she sat, bored, having completed it all. The teacher looked at it, marking it with a zero. "You must have cheated. No first grader can finish this that quickly."
Flash. A seven-year-old girl with frizzy hair, tucked back in a bow, cradling a baby. Of course...her younger sister, Juliet. Her mother joined them, and her father took a Polaroid of the three.
Flash...an eleven year old girl, insecure, putting on a bossy facade to hide the fact that she had entered a world she was unfarmiliar with. She talked with two young boys, one with messy black hair, a scar, and a pair of broken glasses. With a flash of her wand, the glasses were like new.
Flash. Fourteen, in periwinkle robes, her hair swept up elegantly in a smooth bun, waltzing with Durmstrang champion of the Triwizard tournament, Viktor Krum. Potter looked on with astonishment, Weasley, with jealousy. He himself had observed her that night, and marveled at the woman she had become.
Flash, Dumbledore's office. He sat beside a frightened seventeen year old, and watched himself and her converse. They rose from their chairs and exited the office together, an invisible bond between them.
The reason she was here...is because she wanted to save his life.
She cared for him.
She even loved him.
Snape wrenched away from the world of dreams, coming, full force, into the world of wakefulness. He arrived just in time to see the doors burst open, light sillhouetting a slim figure in black Hogwarts robes in the doorway.
~
"TOM RIDDLE! YOU WILL TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER NOW!"
Snape started at hearing Harry Potter burst out like so. There was raw power behind his words, he could sense it. And apparently, so could Voldemort. He flung Hermione away roughly, and she landed on the floor next to Severus.
Harry moved quickly. In one smooth motion, he had crossed the room, arriving at the dais. He grabbed two wands - Severus' and Hermione's - and flung them towards their owners. And then the fight began.
"Severus?" Hermione laid a hand on his forehead. "Oh, Severus, please wake up, I need you more than ever..."
|I'm awake, I just can't muster the energy to make a noise!| he thought furiously. He kept trying while she administered healing spells, finally extracting a nearly soundless moan.
"Severus?" she whispered, daring to hope. She finished the healing spells, and he felt his energy slowly ebbing back to him. "Oh thank the Gods you're all right."
"Of course I am, love," he said softly. He quickly gave her a kiss. "No matter what happens, I'll always love you."
"And I you." Hermione grabbed her wand, and handed Snape his.
"On three..." She murmurred, joining Harry, Snape alongside her. "One...two..."
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Green light erupted, sending Voldemort backwards. Hermione, Harry and Snape stepped forward, and Hermione nearly tripped over something that made a metallic noise against the rough stone floor. She bent down to pick up a sword, briefly looking at the hilt, which was encrusted with rubies.
Godric Gryffindor.
Suddenly, it was as if Hermione had known all along what she must do. She looked at Voldemort's fallen form, her hand tightening around the hilt. Something gleamed in her eyes. It was courage...it was fear, all at once. She quickly strode over to the body, raising the sword high, over her head, and drove it through the black heart of Lord Voldemort.
~
Sorry I haven't posted in so long...please review! Only one more chapter!
Love Alicia