Harry Potter and the Star of Senkrad
Author: l'Ciel
Fandom: Harry Potter
Disclaimer: JKR, and some more I think – I don't own anything but the plot – oh, and Ice Drakes, that's mine too! And that sexy nurse (god bless her brainless boobs)
Rating: hard R for implicit sexual content, NC-17 for explicit sexual content
Warnings: violence, brain washing, non-con,
Pairings: HP/DG, SS/LM; side pairings: HP/BZ, NM/LM
Genre: Action/Adventure, Romance, Angst
Summary : After the events of OotP, Harry runs away from the Dursleys. The only one to find him is Snape, but where do the spy's loyalties truly lie? Slash & Het, war-story
Main characters: Harry, Snape, Lucius, Voldemort, Dumbledore
25) The Queen Strikes
Hours must have passed while Hermione waited in the dark. She had been forced to relieve herself in the opposite corner of the room and was now again cowering at the edge of the table. As it was summer she had only worn a skimpy dress at home her aunt had given her. The thin violet fabric looked nice but did not grant her any warmth.
Shivering so badly that her teeth clattered, she dropped her head back and tried to clear her mind. She had stopped crying and screaming a long time ago. Nobody had heard.
It seemed another few hours later when she thought she heard something outside. Tired and wary, she got up and hid behind the rotten piece of furniture when the door creaked open.
The shadow of a large, fat man appeared on the wall and soon the robed figure entered. The beefy man wrinkled his nose and smiled evilly, before he lifted his wand and the table rattled, before it slipped away from her. Exposed, she stared in horror, when he lifted his wand again. Something in her head snapped and she lost focus. Everything was blurry and she was slightly nauseous. Unable to stand anymore, she keeled over and he roughly lifted her up and threw her over his shoulder. It hurt when her stomach hit his shoulder and she thought she was going to be sick, but she wasn't.
They walked along some dingy corridor. There were no windows, only stairs leading deeper into the earth. Terrified she noticed that he was groping her behind, but just when she felt she couldn't take it anymore a harsh female voice ordered the man to drop her.
The floor was hard and cold, but every move made her sick and her head hurt. Lifting her head and trying to fight the dizziness, she could distinguish the outlines of a chair near her left, a torch and a cot somewhere further to the other side of the room. The green fire flickered against the bare stone of the dungeon wall and reflected on some metal chains that hung from the ceiling. A spider crawled over her hand and she whimpered.
The female voice made a comment about her whiny mudblood self, before the door slammed shut with a bang and they were left alone in the subterranean chamber.
Her head was slowly clearing, when somebody roughly grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the chair. Something was forced down her throat and she grew dizzy again. In front of her she could see the blurry image of a blonde woman in green robes. For a moment she thought it was Madam Lance, her primary school teacher, but Lance was a Muggle…
"What is your full name?" the question echoed through her brain.
"Hermione Jane Granger," she answered automatically.
"Who is your best friend?"
"Harry Potter."
"Where is he?"
"Missing."
"Do you know he is a death eater now?"
"No," she answered; That's a lie, screamed her mind, but she could not voice her thoughts.
"You will tell us more about him."
"No."
"What is his favourite sweet?"
"Chocolate frogs," DAMN!
"Good girl. Our lord will be so pleased," the voice said and laughed. Hermione thought she was going to be sick again. Then she felt something wet contact with her face and she looked up from where the woman had spat on her.
"Filthy mudblood!" the blonde scorned and left. Alone and humiliated, Hermione curled up on the cot and cried again. Now the enemy knew more about Harry. Harry. Oh Harry…
Her thoughts were interrupted when somebody carefully poked her side. She had nearly screamed, but she felt too weak, so she just opened one eye warily.
"Miss must not sleep now!" a squeaky voice said, but her strength was faltering. Big green eyes stared into hers when she fainted away in exhaustion.
Harry shot up from his bed. Bleary eyed, he searched for his glasses on the nightstand and put them on. Rubbing his forehead habitually he wondered what he had dreamed about, but he could not remember.
Worried, he tried to go back to sleep, but the sun was already rising and although it was still over two hours 'till breakfast he got ready as silently as possible and crept down the stairs to the Great Hall. It was still empty save the Grey Lady and Sir Nicolas, who were engaged into a heated discussion about the medieval witch hunts that had ended her life rather abruptly when she was hit over the head by a muggle turning round a corner carrying the logs for the next fire.
Just then he heard noises from the entrance hall. Peeking through the twilight he saw several staff members crowd around a stretcher. In the dim light he missed an uneven spot on the floor and nearly fell. He didn't, but the noise alerted the adults in the hall.
McGonagall sighed and waved him over, when suddenly a green eyed creature threw itself at him and started to hit its head against Harry's thigh.
"Dobby is soo sorry, Mister Harry Potter, soo sorry!" the elf squeaked and Harry had trouble to pry the long fingers off of his legs.
"Dobby?" he asked, confused, while the house-elf slowly let him go and pointed its long finger at the person lying on the stretcher.
"I is trying to get her out of the bad old Master's house, but she is fainting and Dobby, Dobby heard the evil Mistress coming!" the elf said, his eyes growing even wider (if that was possible…). "And she gives her potions and swears and threatens and ask questions!"
Shivering at the memory, Dobby buried his head in his hands, looking down.
"And then," his voice was but a whisper, "Dobby takes her out at Master Dumbledore's order, but the wards did not let her go! Do Dobby dispels the wards, but the evil one notices and the snake was hunting us, too! And then Dobby came here with Harry Potter's friend…" he looked up from behind his hands as if awaiting some kind of punishment.
"My – friend?... HERMIONE?" he asked desperately, kneeling beside her.
McGonagall's hand rested softly on his shoulder.
"Come on, Harry," his head of house coerced gently but firmly, "she needs to go to the hospital wing. Hush now – she'll live!"
When they reached the infirmary Madam Pomfrey shooed them all out to tend to her patient. McGonagall advised him to go back to the Gryffindor tower to get ready for breakfast. She also asked him to tell his friends the news that Hermione was safe in the hospital wing and would recover quickly. He was already heading back when she called after him to take notes in class for his friend. Shaking his head, Harry smiled at the memory of Hermione taking notes for every one of them when they were in Madam Pomfrey's care. His mood darkened when he thought about second year – nobody had taken notes for Hermione then…
Ascending the long stairs to the Fat Lady he gave the password and entered the common room. Everybody was still asleep, or so he thought, when a shadow slipped from the far side of the common room and approached him. In the light of the rising sun that fell through the windows on his side, he could see her long, red hair glowing like liquid fire. Her thoughtful brown eyes looked questioningly at him while the early sun enhanced the pale beauty of her nearly flawless skin, a hue of freckles nearly invisible during the long, Scottish winter.
"Gin?" he asked tentatively and she reached out to him with one elegant hand. He took it and with a slow smile hugged her loosely. She folded her arms around his shoulders.
"I missed you," she whispered. "We all did."
"They've found Hermione," he said, unable to think of anything else.
Ginny seemed concerned.
"Is she alright?"
"Yeah well," he stumbled over his own words. "I think she was captured by Death Eaters or something. Dobby got her out, I think – that'd mean she was at Malfoy Manor. I really don't know the facts, we ought to ask her tomorrow."
She nodded.
She was beautiful standing there. Like Juliet on her balcony, Heloise writing a letter or Briar Rose sleeping in her tower. But still he felt something was off with her. She smiled at him and he knew now what she meant. And he felt sorry for her. Although he loved her dearly it would never be what she wanted from him. And he also knew why.
He remembered Daphne. He knew if she had not instigated the whole affair it would never have happened. He had been inebriated that evening, more that just tipsy and he knew she had taken advantage of that. Maybe she had been drunken, too, he wouldn't have known. He had grown to know her as sly, devious – vindictive if necessary, but beyond that shell as rather nice and very intelligent. An perfect pure-blood witch from a wealthy family. He had given her a rather brusque brush-off the next morning, being in a rather bad mood and horribly hung-over, and she had made a silent retreat, in fact, they had not spoken to each other ever since.
Obviously it had hurt her more than he had expected.
Ginny's annoyed tapping brought him back from his musings. He sighed and mumbled about going back to his dorm. That probably did not exactly boost her mood, but right now he felt too uncomfortable in her presence to said anything more. Thinking of Daphne had made him guilty enough.
Up in the dorm he found the other guys getting ready for breakfast. Obviously they had managed to come back from their nightly escapades unscathed. Neville greeted him friendly (as always) and Seamus grunted something into his direction. Dean was nowhere to be found but in the bathroom he could hear a shower running and it had to be him, since Ron was standing by the window in his boxers and pyjama top, scratching his ear worriedly.
"You alright?" he asked his best mate, who scowled and shook his head dejectedly.
"Nah… I'm just worried 'bout Mione," he sighed and Harry gulped.
"They found her just this morning-" he started to say and Ron whirled around, grabbing his shoulder.
"Where? What? When- Merlin!" he hit his head and looked at Harry with begging eyes.
"I saw the teachers in the hall just some minutes ago. They were brining her up to the hospital wing and Dobby was with them. I think she was abducted to Malfoy Manor. She did not seem to be hurt physically, though," he remembered.
Ron closed his eyes miserably and Harry hushed him lightly. Together they went down to the great hall. Harry felt Ron's worry and anxiousness. His friend was literary radiating his negative feelings. Ginny joined them, but with others around Harry felt alright in her presence. She threw him a dejected glance and he felt sorry for her, but there was no way in hell he would start a romantic relationship with her. That at least he knew for sure.
From the Slytherin table Daphne's eyes seemed to follow him and he began to feel distinctly uncomfortable, when the owls arrived. A barn owl with black spots dropped a letter in front of him and for a moment he made eye-contact with the Death Eater girl, before opening the letter.
Dear Harry, it said,
We need to talk. Alone. Meet me at the stairway to the dungeons after breakfast.
D
Suspicious, he glanced over to her but the urgency in her eyes made him reconsider. Carefully he folded the parchment into a little square and ignited it under the table. His fingers got a little hot but at least there was nothing left of the message. Neville eyed him sceptically, but he could not have seen the exchange since he was sitting with his back to the Slytherins.
lc is happy, lc does a dance... (sanity is highly overrated these days...) R&R guys!
