Author's Note: To a certain insistent reviewer, note that I am working on it but patience is vital. Also note that humor is fun but, as the summary says, this is meant to be a dark story and I'm sure by the end it will be. To all reviewers: THANK YOU!! Also, Wri-ters-block is a terrible thing that affects us all.
chapter 11: INTRUSION - shattering the peace
Closing my eyes I bathe in the red warmth of the hearth fire. The world is dark and silent. Laying on the rug in the common room I am wrapped in a cocoon of firelight, of dark secrets and the knowledge that it will come to me.
to me. to me. it will be mine.
The rug is rough against my cheek, damp where my tears have fallen. I reach my arm upward, stretching my body full length along the rug and breathe in deeply the smells of old wool and stone that permeate everything in this castle. My tears ceased over an hour ago and for now I revel in the quiet of the night.
ssshhhhhhhh..........
In the stillness I can feel it thrumming beneath my breastbone, drowning out the murmur of my heart. It glows beneath my skin, a warmth to replace the heat of the flames on my face, a coldness to replace the chill shadows at my back. A thin draft stirs the hairs at the nape of my neck and I close my eyes, holding the feeling of tears slipping away.
soon.. soon.
I used to cry every night, sobbing at the sharp pain of separation, of my dying innocence. But, like a rot at the heart of a mighty oak, it must be cut out. With my tears I feel that old part of me bleeding away and I rejoice. Every time I cry there is less and less of that old self left to stand in my way. In its place I feel myself filling with the other power, knowing that soon it will consume me, needing it to consume me. I am near ripe with it.
fire dancing along my skin
I feel as if my only peace comes from nights like these, lying before the fire. In the stillness I feel myself thinning out to encompass everything, my body preparing for that dawning time of joining. My hair spills molten fire over my shoulder and lies fanned out before the firelight. The flames catch and dance in the silken strands, speaking of the ancient coals burning at the heart of the Earth. Times like these I wish I dared to lie here naked, to let the night air and firelight soak into my skin and bear witness to the change that courses through me.
blood to flames, skin to alabaster
The man is a fool. He thinks he knows this curse, thinks it will serve him when the time comes. Well, he will learn soon enough. I stretch up my other arm and roll over, settling my belly and thighs flush along the floor. I should go soon, back to my bed before these trickster flames lull me into a dangerous lethargy. Firelight is a magic of many faces and it turns its eyes both towards and away from me. For now I let it settle its soothing fingers across my back and side, filling me with a strength to face the morrow.
hold me here. draw me away.
I feel the whole of my skin flinch and recoil in shock as my ears prick to the sounds coming from just outside the portrait-hole. I was certainly right to be cautious. Gryffindor is too full of students willing to risk curfew to really expect the common room to stay completely deserted at this time of night.
Ginny shrank back into the shadows around the overstuffed chair as the portrait swung open, admitting Hermione and Ron carrying what appeared to be Harry's invisibility cloak. Failing to notice the girl concealed in the shadows, they bid each other a sleepy goodnight and headed up the stairs to their respective dormitories. Ginny crouched silently in the dark, letting the strange panic that had flared in her breast upon Ron and Hermione's intrusion into her night-time world fade down to a low ember. She waited until the tension had eased out of her muscles before heading up to bed herself, thankful that she did not share a dorm room with Hermione.
A hand came out of nowhere and snatched Harry backwards into a niche as he was heading down to breakfast. "What the.." was all he got out before he crashed into the wall with a loud "Oof."
"Sorry, Harry. I didn't think you were that light." Hermione looked briefly chagrined before her face settled back into a look of hard determination.
"Hermione, what are you doing?" He scowled and rubbed the back of his head. "If you needed to talk to me, why couldn't you just do it like a normal..."
"Where's Ron?" Hermione cut him off.
"Where do you think? It's Saturday. He's in bed. You know how hard it is to get him up on a Saturday."
"Right." Hermione put her hands on her hips. She looked like she was composing a list of points for a History of Magic essay. Harry was hungry but he waited, knowing it would be better to just let her say what she had to say now rather than making her angry by running off to breakfast.
"Okay," she said finally, her plan of attack apparently all prepared. "Did you know Ron was in the library last night?"
Harry nodded slowly. "Yeah. He asked if he could borrow my cloak to go look up something for Transfiguration. Why, what's up?"
Hermione frowned. "So you don't know anything either? About what's going on with Ron, I mean."
So this is where this was going. And if Hermione hadn't found out anything, then that wasn't good. Clearly something was wrong with Ron and concern for his friend was starting to get to Harry. "No, he hasn't told me anything. I thought you were looking into it. What about that huge book on spinach I saw you with."
At this Hermione winced slightly and looked away. "Umm," she said, biting her lip, obviously embarrassed. "I didn't quite get through all of the book." Harry raised an eyebrow. "There was a whole chapter on pixie repellants!" Hermione spit out disgustedly. "And then one on stain removers, don't ask me how that works, and then I just started flipping through randomly." By now Hermione was talking so quickly Harry was having trouble catching individual words. "And you know it never works to do that and I wanted to give up but then last night Seamus said something about wizards using spinach to increase stamina. You know, for sex?!"
Hermione looked at him expectantly. Harry blinked. "You know," he finally said slowly, "about all I got out of that was something about pixies, a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand, and then 'SEX!' Maybe you should go over it one more time." Hermione looked grouchy at this but complied.
"I didn't find anything in that book," she said slowly, carefully enunciating each word and causing Harry to cross his arms at her tone, "But then last night Seamus said that wizards use spinach to increase sexual stamina." She paused to let that sink in.
Apparently it wasn't sinking very far, though, because after a minute Harry blinked, shook his head, looked at her again and said, "What?"
It was Hermione's turn to cross her arms. "I think maybe Ron has a girlfriend."
Once again, all she got out of Harry was, "What?" so she just decided to continue on.
"Ok, Harry, it's not that big of a stretch to think that maybe Ron has a girlfriend, though I'd like to kill him for not telling us, and last night I found him in the library and he wasn't looking up Transfiguration, he was looking up glamours, you know, spells to make you look better? and he's been looking rather pale and tired lately and maybe it's 'cause he's not getting enough sleep and what do you think, Harry?"
Harry squeezed his eyes shut and put a hand to his head, clearly not getting this as quickly as Hermione would have liked. "Wait a minute," he said finally. "I thought Ron said his mum is making him eat the spinach. Why would she give him something to increase his sexual stamina?" This last came out rather weakly.
Hermione shook her head and began tugging Harry out of the alcove. "Wellllllll," she said finally, as they continued on their way to breakfast. "He could be lying about that. Or his mum could be a lot more open minded than she's given credit for, or, I don't know, Harry. What do you think we should do?"
Harry pinwheeled his arms in an effort to get her to let go of his shirt by which she was dragging him into the Great Hall before answering. "I don't know Hermione. Don't you just think it would be easier to ask him about it? If he knows that we suspect he has a girlfriend maybe he'll stop trying to hide it from us. It would be nice if the explanation were that simple." It was at this point that the smell of breakfast overwhelmed Harry and he could no longer restrain himself from attacking the food. Hermione just shook her head resignedly and determined to speak to Ron at the first opportunity.
chapter 11: INTRUSION - shattering the peace
Closing my eyes I bathe in the red warmth of the hearth fire. The world is dark and silent. Laying on the rug in the common room I am wrapped in a cocoon of firelight, of dark secrets and the knowledge that it will come to me.
to me. to me. it will be mine.
The rug is rough against my cheek, damp where my tears have fallen. I reach my arm upward, stretching my body full length along the rug and breathe in deeply the smells of old wool and stone that permeate everything in this castle. My tears ceased over an hour ago and for now I revel in the quiet of the night.
ssshhhhhhhh..........
In the stillness I can feel it thrumming beneath my breastbone, drowning out the murmur of my heart. It glows beneath my skin, a warmth to replace the heat of the flames on my face, a coldness to replace the chill shadows at my back. A thin draft stirs the hairs at the nape of my neck and I close my eyes, holding the feeling of tears slipping away.
soon.. soon.
I used to cry every night, sobbing at the sharp pain of separation, of my dying innocence. But, like a rot at the heart of a mighty oak, it must be cut out. With my tears I feel that old part of me bleeding away and I rejoice. Every time I cry there is less and less of that old self left to stand in my way. In its place I feel myself filling with the other power, knowing that soon it will consume me, needing it to consume me. I am near ripe with it.
fire dancing along my skin
I feel as if my only peace comes from nights like these, lying before the fire. In the stillness I feel myself thinning out to encompass everything, my body preparing for that dawning time of joining. My hair spills molten fire over my shoulder and lies fanned out before the firelight. The flames catch and dance in the silken strands, speaking of the ancient coals burning at the heart of the Earth. Times like these I wish I dared to lie here naked, to let the night air and firelight soak into my skin and bear witness to the change that courses through me.
blood to flames, skin to alabaster
The man is a fool. He thinks he knows this curse, thinks it will serve him when the time comes. Well, he will learn soon enough. I stretch up my other arm and roll over, settling my belly and thighs flush along the floor. I should go soon, back to my bed before these trickster flames lull me into a dangerous lethargy. Firelight is a magic of many faces and it turns its eyes both towards and away from me. For now I let it settle its soothing fingers across my back and side, filling me with a strength to face the morrow.
hold me here. draw me away.
I feel the whole of my skin flinch and recoil in shock as my ears prick to the sounds coming from just outside the portrait-hole. I was certainly right to be cautious. Gryffindor is too full of students willing to risk curfew to really expect the common room to stay completely deserted at this time of night.
Ginny shrank back into the shadows around the overstuffed chair as the portrait swung open, admitting Hermione and Ron carrying what appeared to be Harry's invisibility cloak. Failing to notice the girl concealed in the shadows, they bid each other a sleepy goodnight and headed up the stairs to their respective dormitories. Ginny crouched silently in the dark, letting the strange panic that had flared in her breast upon Ron and Hermione's intrusion into her night-time world fade down to a low ember. She waited until the tension had eased out of her muscles before heading up to bed herself, thankful that she did not share a dorm room with Hermione.
A hand came out of nowhere and snatched Harry backwards into a niche as he was heading down to breakfast. "What the.." was all he got out before he crashed into the wall with a loud "Oof."
"Sorry, Harry. I didn't think you were that light." Hermione looked briefly chagrined before her face settled back into a look of hard determination.
"Hermione, what are you doing?" He scowled and rubbed the back of his head. "If you needed to talk to me, why couldn't you just do it like a normal..."
"Where's Ron?" Hermione cut him off.
"Where do you think? It's Saturday. He's in bed. You know how hard it is to get him up on a Saturday."
"Right." Hermione put her hands on her hips. She looked like she was composing a list of points for a History of Magic essay. Harry was hungry but he waited, knowing it would be better to just let her say what she had to say now rather than making her angry by running off to breakfast.
"Okay," she said finally, her plan of attack apparently all prepared. "Did you know Ron was in the library last night?"
Harry nodded slowly. "Yeah. He asked if he could borrow my cloak to go look up something for Transfiguration. Why, what's up?"
Hermione frowned. "So you don't know anything either? About what's going on with Ron, I mean."
So this is where this was going. And if Hermione hadn't found out anything, then that wasn't good. Clearly something was wrong with Ron and concern for his friend was starting to get to Harry. "No, he hasn't told me anything. I thought you were looking into it. What about that huge book on spinach I saw you with."
At this Hermione winced slightly and looked away. "Umm," she said, biting her lip, obviously embarrassed. "I didn't quite get through all of the book." Harry raised an eyebrow. "There was a whole chapter on pixie repellants!" Hermione spit out disgustedly. "And then one on stain removers, don't ask me how that works, and then I just started flipping through randomly." By now Hermione was talking so quickly Harry was having trouble catching individual words. "And you know it never works to do that and I wanted to give up but then last night Seamus said something about wizards using spinach to increase stamina. You know, for sex?!"
Hermione looked at him expectantly. Harry blinked. "You know," he finally said slowly, "about all I got out of that was something about pixies, a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand, and then 'SEX!' Maybe you should go over it one more time." Hermione looked grouchy at this but complied.
"I didn't find anything in that book," she said slowly, carefully enunciating each word and causing Harry to cross his arms at her tone, "But then last night Seamus said that wizards use spinach to increase sexual stamina." She paused to let that sink in.
Apparently it wasn't sinking very far, though, because after a minute Harry blinked, shook his head, looked at her again and said, "What?"
It was Hermione's turn to cross her arms. "I think maybe Ron has a girlfriend."
Once again, all she got out of Harry was, "What?" so she just decided to continue on.
"Ok, Harry, it's not that big of a stretch to think that maybe Ron has a girlfriend, though I'd like to kill him for not telling us, and last night I found him in the library and he wasn't looking up Transfiguration, he was looking up glamours, you know, spells to make you look better? and he's been looking rather pale and tired lately and maybe it's 'cause he's not getting enough sleep and what do you think, Harry?"
Harry squeezed his eyes shut and put a hand to his head, clearly not getting this as quickly as Hermione would have liked. "Wait a minute," he said finally. "I thought Ron said his mum is making him eat the spinach. Why would she give him something to increase his sexual stamina?" This last came out rather weakly.
Hermione shook her head and began tugging Harry out of the alcove. "Wellllllll," she said finally, as they continued on their way to breakfast. "He could be lying about that. Or his mum could be a lot more open minded than she's given credit for, or, I don't know, Harry. What do you think we should do?"
Harry pinwheeled his arms in an effort to get her to let go of his shirt by which she was dragging him into the Great Hall before answering. "I don't know Hermione. Don't you just think it would be easier to ask him about it? If he knows that we suspect he has a girlfriend maybe he'll stop trying to hide it from us. It would be nice if the explanation were that simple." It was at this point that the smell of breakfast overwhelmed Harry and he could no longer restrain himself from attacking the food. Hermione just shook her head resignedly and determined to speak to Ron at the first opportunity.
