Author's Note: Don't have much to say. The eternal thanks to my reviewers are still in place. I'm sorry this story is being updated to sporadically, but I hope you enjoy this chapter in any case.
chapter 30: FOUNDATION - beginning of the end
The portrait door swung open and Hermione flinched at the sound of it. Whichever one of them it was, she didn't want to deal with it. 'If you don't want to deal with it then why are you still waiting up?' asked a small voice in her head. She told it to go to Hell.
"Hermione?" It was Harry. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and briefly considered burying her nose in her book and pretending like she hadn't heard. Instead she put the book down in her lap and looked over to Harry who was standing by the couch with a glazed look on his face.
"Yes, Harry?" She felt tired and it was clearly reflected in her resigned tone.
Harry sat down on the couch next to Hermione. He continued to stare straight ahead and for several minutes said nothing at all. Finally, just as she was about to ask him what was wrong, he said, "I think I'm going insane."
"What happened, Harry?" Hermione asked, adopting the simple tones one uses to speak to a child.
Harry looked over at her and blinked a couple times. "I...umm..." His jaw worked but nothing else came out.
"You ran after Ron?"
This seemed to be all the encouragement he needed for suddenly he was looking directly at her and the words were pouring out of his mouth in a rush. "Yes, I ran after Ron. I didn't know if I would be able catch him but when I got down to the basement I heard the sound of running and when I got to the hall with the potions classroom I saw the end of his robes going into Snape's offices. I went to see what was going on, but right then Snape came out of the room and shut the door. He shut the door pretty fast but I still saw in there. I still saw Ron and Malfoy, and I...they...I think they were hugging? And I didn't know what to do then, and fortunately Snape didn't run into me, and so I just came back here and, Hermione, WHAT'S GOING ON?!" By then end of all this Harry was pale and breathing rapidly and Hermione wanted to smack him to maybe snap him out of it but she was too distracted by what he had said.
Just then the part of her brain that doubted anything that didn't come out of a book kicked in and instead of smacking him she grabbed him by the shoulders and said as distinctly as she could, "Harry, are you sure that's what you saw?" When Harry nodded she continued, "You're sure he wasn't attacking Malfoy or something?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. Malfoy looked too happy."
Hermione bit her lip, trying to get the logical side of her brain to catch up with the hysterical side of her brain. Snape leaving Ron alone with Malfoy. Malfoy looking happy. Something very weird was going on and right now she was trying very, very hard not to jump to crazy conclusions, because crazy conclusions weren't going to help anyone right now.
The problem was, the only things she could come up with were crazy conclusions.
His eyes glittered like a cat's in the darkness as he watched her walk into the room. She looked so uncertain and fragile as she moved across the dusty floor, but still he hung back in the shadows. She gained the center of the room and turned slowly in the moonlight, searching him out. The door was shut, all was quiet, and so he emerged. The light falling through the windowpane sent glints of silver dancing along his hair and lit one side of his face like a hard mask. "So good of you to join me, my dear."
Ginny spun to face Lucius as his voice broke eerily into the silence. She watched him mutely as he closed the distance between them, her face giving hint of neither surprise nor welcome. Not until he raised a hand to brush along her cheek did she reply. "Did you think I would not?"
"Never," was all he whispered before slamming his lips down upon her own and crushing her to him in a tight embrace. They met each other hungrily, lips battling teeth, hands tearing desperately at robes. Heat seemed to well up between them so that they moved in an inferno of hunger and dark magic.
Their robes were their only bed as they settled quickly to the floor, thoughts of comfort and respectability ignored by both. No words but only ragged breath and sharp gasps filled the thick stillness of the room. Lucius imagined that the hard stone floor was drawing bruises along Ginny's shoulders and back, but the thought only pushed him harder. He felt driven by such an intense need, as though hooks of wanting were set into his flesh and pulled at him insistently until he could do naught but obey their brutal commands.
Nails bit sharply into his skin, scratching bloody weals across his back. Legs tightened crushingly around him. The pain was swallowed up by the sensation of the moment, even as he felt her bite fiercely down on his lip and suck the welling blood from his mouth. All he could feel was the heat of her flesh against his own, the fire that seemed to flare along her skin and rippled through him in waves. All that he was was forgotten and all that mattered was the matching of her hunger with his own.
Afterward they lay sprawled in the moonlight upon the dark tangle of their robes. The sweat dried on their bodies and Lucius felt himself cooling, becoming cold. A dark, smothering lethargy took hold of him and his thoughts circled aimlessly as he lay coiled around the dry warmth of Ginny's small form. She had one arm draped across his back and the raw heat radiating from her seemed to brand itself into his skin, contrasting the cold that was stealing over him all the more sharply.
Suddenly, a thought flickered in the back of his mind and he spoke, his voice ragged and thin, as though he spoke only after long years of silence. "He is weak. He can not stand up to us. When I left him he was quiet as stone, with as little will."
Ginny's reply was soft, her words smoothing themselves along his jagged nerves and he felt himself begin to relax. "The other is stronger. He will resist. But we have confidence. We know the secret places of his heart. In the end, his strength will be his downfall." Lulled by this, Lucius felt himself falling into unconsciousness. Slowly, the cold seeped into his bones and the fire beside and around him grew, and for a time he knew nothing but the black emptiness of oblivion.
Ron felt still. Yes, that was the best way to describe it. For a while he simply lay on the couch and let the stillness seep into him. His thoughts seemed frozen in his head, neither clawing at him with worries or uncertainties, nor disorienting him with their endless, looping logics. The room was quiet, calm, the only sounds those of soft breathing. As far as he could tell, Malfoy had fallen asleep. Ron wasn't sure what he thought about that. But then, he wasn't really thinking anything at the moment, so it caused him no worry. The other boy was a warm weight against his chest, a soft, even breath against his shoulder. Ron had never felt such stillness.
He wasn't sure when the thought that he should move first came into his head. Perhaps it was preceded by the thought that he could move. Having been still for so long, contemplating action seemed disturbing, yet the thought nagged at him. He would rather be as earth, or as stone, but he should move.
Slowly, carefully, he began to ease himself sideways off the couch, letting one leg dangle over the side while turning slightly to allow Draco to fall into the warm place he had just vacated. There was a moment when he was afraid his arm would be pinned under the sleeping Malfoy, but he was finally able to extract himself without too much hassle. The entire process ended with him half falling onto the floor in front of the couch but he stood again quickly. That strange feeling of stillness still engulfed him, centering him. He turned and headed softly for the door. A vague part of his mind wondered where Snape had gone.
At the threshold he paused. He could still hear Malfoy's soft breathing behind him. He thought about turning, but he didn't. Ron felt as though there was a great beast of emotion waiting within his breast that he didn't dare disturb. Discovering its nature, he feared, would open the gate and allow it to consume him. So, instead of turning, he left the room and walked slowly and quietly back to Gryffindor tower.
The halls were dark at this time of night. He wondered idly what he would say if Filch caught him but didn't put much effort into it. Hogwort's seemed so deserted just then, that he couldn't really believe that anyone else would, or even could, appear. He moved through a world of shadows and half-light with a destination of only his bed and a good night's sleep. It came as a small shock, then, when he stepped through the portrait hole to find Harry and Hermione waiting for him on the couch in the common room. Or rather, Hermione was waiting. Harry had fallen into a doze. "Where have you been, Ron." This was less a question and more an accusation of wrong-doing.
chapter 30: FOUNDATION - beginning of the end
The portrait door swung open and Hermione flinched at the sound of it. Whichever one of them it was, she didn't want to deal with it. 'If you don't want to deal with it then why are you still waiting up?' asked a small voice in her head. She told it to go to Hell.
"Hermione?" It was Harry. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and briefly considered burying her nose in her book and pretending like she hadn't heard. Instead she put the book down in her lap and looked over to Harry who was standing by the couch with a glazed look on his face.
"Yes, Harry?" She felt tired and it was clearly reflected in her resigned tone.
Harry sat down on the couch next to Hermione. He continued to stare straight ahead and for several minutes said nothing at all. Finally, just as she was about to ask him what was wrong, he said, "I think I'm going insane."
"What happened, Harry?" Hermione asked, adopting the simple tones one uses to speak to a child.
Harry looked over at her and blinked a couple times. "I...umm..." His jaw worked but nothing else came out.
"You ran after Ron?"
This seemed to be all the encouragement he needed for suddenly he was looking directly at her and the words were pouring out of his mouth in a rush. "Yes, I ran after Ron. I didn't know if I would be able catch him but when I got down to the basement I heard the sound of running and when I got to the hall with the potions classroom I saw the end of his robes going into Snape's offices. I went to see what was going on, but right then Snape came out of the room and shut the door. He shut the door pretty fast but I still saw in there. I still saw Ron and Malfoy, and I...they...I think they were hugging? And I didn't know what to do then, and fortunately Snape didn't run into me, and so I just came back here and, Hermione, WHAT'S GOING ON?!" By then end of all this Harry was pale and breathing rapidly and Hermione wanted to smack him to maybe snap him out of it but she was too distracted by what he had said.
Just then the part of her brain that doubted anything that didn't come out of a book kicked in and instead of smacking him she grabbed him by the shoulders and said as distinctly as she could, "Harry, are you sure that's what you saw?" When Harry nodded she continued, "You're sure he wasn't attacking Malfoy or something?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. Malfoy looked too happy."
Hermione bit her lip, trying to get the logical side of her brain to catch up with the hysterical side of her brain. Snape leaving Ron alone with Malfoy. Malfoy looking happy. Something very weird was going on and right now she was trying very, very hard not to jump to crazy conclusions, because crazy conclusions weren't going to help anyone right now.
The problem was, the only things she could come up with were crazy conclusions.
His eyes glittered like a cat's in the darkness as he watched her walk into the room. She looked so uncertain and fragile as she moved across the dusty floor, but still he hung back in the shadows. She gained the center of the room and turned slowly in the moonlight, searching him out. The door was shut, all was quiet, and so he emerged. The light falling through the windowpane sent glints of silver dancing along his hair and lit one side of his face like a hard mask. "So good of you to join me, my dear."
Ginny spun to face Lucius as his voice broke eerily into the silence. She watched him mutely as he closed the distance between them, her face giving hint of neither surprise nor welcome. Not until he raised a hand to brush along her cheek did she reply. "Did you think I would not?"
"Never," was all he whispered before slamming his lips down upon her own and crushing her to him in a tight embrace. They met each other hungrily, lips battling teeth, hands tearing desperately at robes. Heat seemed to well up between them so that they moved in an inferno of hunger and dark magic.
Their robes were their only bed as they settled quickly to the floor, thoughts of comfort and respectability ignored by both. No words but only ragged breath and sharp gasps filled the thick stillness of the room. Lucius imagined that the hard stone floor was drawing bruises along Ginny's shoulders and back, but the thought only pushed him harder. He felt driven by such an intense need, as though hooks of wanting were set into his flesh and pulled at him insistently until he could do naught but obey their brutal commands.
Nails bit sharply into his skin, scratching bloody weals across his back. Legs tightened crushingly around him. The pain was swallowed up by the sensation of the moment, even as he felt her bite fiercely down on his lip and suck the welling blood from his mouth. All he could feel was the heat of her flesh against his own, the fire that seemed to flare along her skin and rippled through him in waves. All that he was was forgotten and all that mattered was the matching of her hunger with his own.
Afterward they lay sprawled in the moonlight upon the dark tangle of their robes. The sweat dried on their bodies and Lucius felt himself cooling, becoming cold. A dark, smothering lethargy took hold of him and his thoughts circled aimlessly as he lay coiled around the dry warmth of Ginny's small form. She had one arm draped across his back and the raw heat radiating from her seemed to brand itself into his skin, contrasting the cold that was stealing over him all the more sharply.
Suddenly, a thought flickered in the back of his mind and he spoke, his voice ragged and thin, as though he spoke only after long years of silence. "He is weak. He can not stand up to us. When I left him he was quiet as stone, with as little will."
Ginny's reply was soft, her words smoothing themselves along his jagged nerves and he felt himself begin to relax. "The other is stronger. He will resist. But we have confidence. We know the secret places of his heart. In the end, his strength will be his downfall." Lulled by this, Lucius felt himself falling into unconsciousness. Slowly, the cold seeped into his bones and the fire beside and around him grew, and for a time he knew nothing but the black emptiness of oblivion.
Ron felt still. Yes, that was the best way to describe it. For a while he simply lay on the couch and let the stillness seep into him. His thoughts seemed frozen in his head, neither clawing at him with worries or uncertainties, nor disorienting him with their endless, looping logics. The room was quiet, calm, the only sounds those of soft breathing. As far as he could tell, Malfoy had fallen asleep. Ron wasn't sure what he thought about that. But then, he wasn't really thinking anything at the moment, so it caused him no worry. The other boy was a warm weight against his chest, a soft, even breath against his shoulder. Ron had never felt such stillness.
He wasn't sure when the thought that he should move first came into his head. Perhaps it was preceded by the thought that he could move. Having been still for so long, contemplating action seemed disturbing, yet the thought nagged at him. He would rather be as earth, or as stone, but he should move.
Slowly, carefully, he began to ease himself sideways off the couch, letting one leg dangle over the side while turning slightly to allow Draco to fall into the warm place he had just vacated. There was a moment when he was afraid his arm would be pinned under the sleeping Malfoy, but he was finally able to extract himself without too much hassle. The entire process ended with him half falling onto the floor in front of the couch but he stood again quickly. That strange feeling of stillness still engulfed him, centering him. He turned and headed softly for the door. A vague part of his mind wondered where Snape had gone.
At the threshold he paused. He could still hear Malfoy's soft breathing behind him. He thought about turning, but he didn't. Ron felt as though there was a great beast of emotion waiting within his breast that he didn't dare disturb. Discovering its nature, he feared, would open the gate and allow it to consume him. So, instead of turning, he left the room and walked slowly and quietly back to Gryffindor tower.
The halls were dark at this time of night. He wondered idly what he would say if Filch caught him but didn't put much effort into it. Hogwort's seemed so deserted just then, that he couldn't really believe that anyone else would, or even could, appear. He moved through a world of shadows and half-light with a destination of only his bed and a good night's sleep. It came as a small shock, then, when he stepped through the portrait hole to find Harry and Hermione waiting for him on the couch in the common room. Or rather, Hermione was waiting. Harry had fallen into a doze. "Where have you been, Ron." This was less a question and more an accusation of wrong-doing.
