Scented
Hermione braced herself for her own retaliation. She wanted to rip Draco's head off his shoulders and put it on a pike, to make an example for anybody else who wanted to take advantage of Severus and herself.
"Repeat that, Draco?" Severus' voice was infuriatingly calm at this point, and Hermione only wanted to shake the two men and cram sense into their heads.
"Let me go. My mother will stay here, in your company, and I will go to Hogwarts alone. You and Granger can…develop your relationship… and I will brave Voldemort and attain spoils and glory for all of us." He said, smirking into the fireplace from whence he came.
"And you actually believe I'll let you blackmail me into this?" Severus raised an eyebrow, incredulous.
"Of course not. But I thought I'd ask to see how secret you wanted to keep yourselves." He grinned and broke out into laughter, indicating Hermione with a flourish of his hand.
"Right." Hermione interrupted, "I'm not exactly sure how sane you two are, but I'd rather not be a part of your ridiculous power games. If there's any blackmailing to be done, you'll do well to leave me out of it." She pushed herself up and left the room with as much dignity as she could muster.
As far as she knew, Severus and Draco were friends, and they could figure out their quarrel without her involvement. She only hoped Draco wouldn't be stupid enough to tell anybody, in which case she really would have to dirty her hands by putting his head on a pike.
"Oh! George!" Hermione squawked, trying not to fall over, "Don't put your foot out like that. You'll kill someone!"
George looked up in surprise, and smiled awkwardly, "Ah. Sorry, Hermione. Didn't see you there."
Hermione noticed his quiescence and frowned slightly at him, "What is it? Is something wrong?"
George smiled and leaned back a little on his seat on the stairs, "I think my quatrain this morning to Fred's nose might have been a tactical mistake. He didn't laugh or anything…just hugged me."
"What?" Hermione asked, astonished, "You read poetry to Fred about his nose?"
"Oh yes, it had such a delightful rhyme scheme to it too. But alas, I think I've broken his poor heart." George raised his hand to his forehead with an expression of dismay. "And to think, he used to love it when I read to his nose."
Hermione laughed hesitantly, because she couldn't tell if he was actually being serious. "I'm sure…I'm sure when he feels a bit better, he'd like to hear more about his nose. Just give him time."
"Yes, that's probably the wise thing to do." George sighed and took Hermione's hand.
"Your nose shines brightly in the light,
Where bogies do not come to sight,
I made time through all the way,
To watch you sniffle every night!"
George ended his recitation by kissing the tip of her nose, and then screaming something to the measure of "It's got me! The bogie's got me!" which, of course, woke Lady Black into a tantrum of screams. Remus ran down the stairs to quiet her and glared at George, who was still holding Hermione hands with an amorous expression. Remus flushed as he turned around a went back upstairs, obviously thinking they had been in the middle of a snog.
"Wonderful," Hermione snorted, "Just what I needed."
"It was good for me too, babe." George winked at her, and turned around to follow Remus upstairs.
So she was a little bit unruffled when Severus cleared his throat from the doorway. Draco seemed to have disappeared, and Severus was leaning against the wall with a smug expression. "I take it they're feeling better?"
Hermione smiled at him, embarrassed. "I do hope that wasn't a fever induced poem, though."
They laughed a little, but an uncomfortable silence blanketed them, filled with uncertainty and some restlessness. Neither of them moved for a few minutes, and they simply looked at each other. Hermione imagined him with the smooth hair tied into a ponytail, blond and red and orange like an apple. And she entered through his eyes.
He was there, and she was. This was something she hadn't experienced before, though. She looked through his eyes as if they were her own, and she could feel his presence beside her. Her body was prone, on the floor, and apparently, she had fallen over when she left her body. She heard footsteps with unfamiliar ears, and her peripheral view swayed a little as Severus moved their head to where the noise had come from. Dumbledore stood at the foot of the stairs, staring from their body to Hermione's.
She heard the familiar velvet of Severus' voice through their vocal chords, "A bit of experimenting, on her part. She's here with me."
Hermione watched in awe as she controlled their right hand to form a victory sign at Albus. Severus watched in horror. Dumbledore merely chuckled, "Good work, Miss Granger. I expect you'll be able to make him smile in less than an hour's work." And he walked off in the deceptively senile fashion that he'd undertaken recently. As if there wasn't a genius and mastermind behind that genial façade.
"You think he's evil do you?" Severus said aloud, but to himself. Herself. He could hear her thoughts.
And she used his voice, "Not evil, just deceptive. And why isn't this Imperius?" She asked, fearful that she'd broken some unspoken law and would be promptly shipped off to Azkaban.
No, I'm letting you in here. Even one who did not know Legilimency could cast you out easily, but I quite enjoy your company.
Hermione laughed and the sound was so foreign to her she abruptly stopped. Don't you feel violated? I mean, my taking over your body… Hermione thought to him. She didn't know how she would feel if he were to take over her body.
There is a great deal of trust involved when a person allows someone to enter his body. He replied, and that was that. He deposited her gently back into herself, and Hermione came back feeling strangely aware of her surroundings.
"It does put things into perspective, after you've seen through someone else." Severus remarked, and Hermione could only nod in agreement.
It was only now that she noticed how alone they were, and in such close proximity. He had had to touch her temples to insert her back into her body safely, and so he was bending over her, kneeling on the ground with his arms to either side of her shoulders. Hermione need only bend up slightly and she could steal a kiss. Was it just her, or was he coming closer? His breath appeared to be as short as her own, and the scent hit her with full force. That tiny gem her twin on the lake had bestowed upon her. The kiss they had shared, and now this scent that intoxicated them both. It was a deep aroma, reminiscent of the Dream and of the kiss, and all they could do was fall into it.
Obviously, kissing in the middle of a house filled with people was no way to get any privacy.
"You two at it already?" Draco's mirth was evident. "You're lucky it's only me. I'd have thought you would keep yourselves secret, but I guess there's no point in me keeping my mouth shut."
The scent had vanished, along with the stolen moment with her Dream Lover. Now all she had was regret that they'd been caught. Hermione had almost reached something beyond that scent, and she was eager to know it.
Severus was undeniably red in the face, probably cursing himself for his momentary lapse in good Public Conduct. Draco tsked and walked back upstairs, catching Harry at the end of the stairs. They seemed to have gotten on better terms, though Hermione couldn't imagine how that would come about. She watched as Severus betrayed his emotions on his face for a few precious seconds. Anger, frustration, guilt, and apology. All quick, in succession. She resisted the urge to chuckle, and instead looked around quickly before planting a firm kiss on his mouth. His resulting intake of breath was more than worth the risk of being caught.
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Hermione decided that, though she would be leaving for Hogwarts in less than a week, she would need to speak to Fred, and perhaps knock some sense into him. He hadn't left his room for two days, and she would break his sullen attitude before they had to leave. His melancholy was grating on everybody's nerves, George's most, she surmised. George. He tried to put on a brave face, made jokes, poems to people's noses. But inside, she felt him thinking about all of it - the war, Fred, all the people that might die.
She found herself in front of Fred's door, verging on either knocking or kicking it open in frustration. She opted for the former, and called gently, "Fred? It's Hermione. I think we should talk."
There was silence for a moment, and then Fred replied grimly, "Maybe you could slip a note under the door, and I'll get to it eventually."
"Fred, please talk to me. Or talk to somebody, just do anything but sit on your bed all day looking at your hands." Hermione paused, and then tried something else.
"Your nose shines brightly in the light,
Where bogies do not come to sight,
I made time through all the way,
To watch you sniffle every night!"
Another pause, and there was a half sob - half snicker coming from the room. She took this as her cue to enter.
What she saw when she entered was not good. Not good. Fred and George were lying in bed, hands tightly clasped and eyes wide in fear and shock. They'd been found out.
"Hermione! Who said you could come in!" George hollered, apparently holding down Fred, who had taken on a mad look, in his eyes and in his hands, which were trying to disentangle from George and maybe do something to hurt her person. Hermione winced at the thought.
"Fred wasn't talking at all, was he?" Hermione said more than asked, and shot a look of pity to George as she edged closer, despite the glares.
"No." George winced as Fred tried again to get free of him, his eyes and hair wild like a hurt animal.
"You two…really shouldn't be doing this. You can't turn into one person." Hermione said, frantically trying to piece the situation together. "I'll get Professor Snape."
"NO!" George and Fred shouted together. That really had been the only thing Fred said to her.
"You can't do this!" Hermione protested, but watched avidly as both their eyes went blank, and they disappeared into one another again. Hermione panicked.
Severus. Severus, come here now. Bring Draco. Hermione thought desperately, wondering if this would work.
Hermione? She could hear Draco's thoughts. Severus isn't here. He's gone for the day, on Order business.
"When did he leave?" She thought aloud, worry filling her mind for the two boys who had gone comatose, still clinging desperately to one another.
She felt someone tap her shoulder, "This morning. My mother with him. But-" Draco paused in shock when he saw what had happened to the twins. "It's a relapse."
"You think?" Hermione spat without thinking, "Oh no, Severus isn't here. Do you know how to fix them?" She practically shouted, desperately restraining herself from hopping around from foot to foot in worry.
"Fuck it. Go over to George, he's less of a nutter than this one." He looked at Fred with an expression of distaste. "Come on, on a count of three. One - Two - Three, heave!" And Draco's eyes went blank too. Hermione had no idea what she was supposed to do on the count of three and so she found herself trying to enter George through his eyes, and it hadn't worked.
A few moments passed in which Hermione almost choked with worry for Draco, had he perhaps fallen to the twins' minds? But no, he was coming out with a strained look on his face.
"Why didn't you go in? They kicked me out, and created some sort of barrier." Draco said reluctantly, "I'm not strong enough to get past it."
"What? How was I supposed to do that, I don't even know how." She panicked again, trying to ignore the feeling of nausea that crept up on her.
"Right." Draco said, ignoring her. He looked at the twins, trying to discern the best course of action. Hermione decided first.
She went over to Fred's body, where the twins both seemed to be, and tried his eyes. There, they were there. And she could hear a whisper against her mind, and it was like a thread connecting their bodies. She felt it like the scent of the gem, only it told her things. It told her to stay away, to stay away and leave. And then she knew it was Fred.
What are you doing here! Fred screamed at her, but inaudibly. The scream was in the shaking of her thoughts, the feeling of vertigo that Fred undoubtedly pressed upon her. Since when was he so good at this?
"Why are you doing this? Why are you so scared, Fred?" Hermione said, tiptoeing lightly through the corridor that suddenly appeared around her. And she realized it was The Burrow, and the next door was the twins' room. Only, George was gone, and Fred was alone, trying to defend himself from the Death Eater.
You want to know what's wrong, Hermione? Fred echoed to her, and Hermione immediately felt sick.
Fred cursed and tried to tackle the oncoming Death Eater, but without his wand he was useless. The Death Eater laughed and mumbled a spell to pin Fred against the wall, and then bent him over the side of the bed. Hermione didn't want to see anymore, but she couldn't shut her eyes against the scene that took place before her. She could hear Fred screaming, and George pounding against the door that wouldn't open. And she could feel Fred being ripped apart by the Death Eater, who viciously raped him from behind. Minutes passed while Fred cried in agony. He would crawl away when the Death Eater paused, and the masked man would laugh and pull him back when he got two feet away, and break him again. He bled everywhere, his hands, where nails had gone missing, presumably in trying to claw at his tormentor, on his face and neck, where he had been hit and strangled, and from his backside. It was too gory a sight, but Hermione was forced to watch.
And afterward, She saw Severus burst through the door, and then George, who immediately pounced on the shocked Death Eater and ripped his mask off. With a scream bordering on madness, George pushed his thumbs into the Death Eater's eyes and gouged out what bloody chunks of eye he could. And it was MacNair wailing in agony as his sight was taken away from him, leaving his eye sockets a gory, bleeding mess when George had been pulled off.
And quite suddenly, the memory had gone blank. Fred and George had joined, leaving behind misery and giving themselves to each other, and they would rest.
"Pleased?" Fred sneered at her from the other end of the blank space. Hermione looked around, and conjured a small forest scene. Fred and George were both present, watching her with wary eyes.
"Of course I'm not pleased," Hermione managed, and she tried to say more. But the disgusting scene she had witnessed moments prior, and her successful yet draining attempts at Legilimency left her feeling ill. And that was all she could manage before coming back to her own body and throwing up the remains of her lunch.
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So anyway, This chapter was so hard to write! I had to get it all down before I changed my mind about writing it. I wanted to do something that kind of makes Hermione grow up. Earlier, she was sort of in a false sense of security, and I think this ordeal makes the War more real to her. That fred had been raped, and that Fred and George's clinging together was not some annoying pleasure, but maybe Fred's only anchor. You know? It brings things into Perspective, like Sevvy said
And I'm sorry if the gory scene left you with a bad taste in your mouth, but I think it needs to be there. It makes the situation so real, and proves that war is not the glory battle people sometimes make it out to be. So there we are. Please review, as I need to get a good idea of what people think of my changes in the plot. And wouldn't you like to know what happened to Bella?
Btw, sorry I had to end the chapter with Hermione throwing up cringes I know how much you guys wanted to read about that. X.x
-Jenie