Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Potterverse, or related characters. All is © JKR.

TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET WE GO

CHAPTER FOUR

A Willing Sacrifice

Raya stared down at her hands, eyes sliding shut against the pale warmth offered by the last vestiges of the green flames. Taking a deep breath, and a shuddering sob, she took a step toward the flames. Her right hand rested on her slightly swollen stomach, and a crystalline tear coursed its way down her pale cheek, coming to linger on the soft line of her jaw. Bowing her head forward, the crystal tear slid down along her jaw line, tracing a path of sadness that glittered in the soft light.

Her heart ached, and she knew that she had to. She had to go to Lilith, for the sake of Draco, even at the risk of herself and her own child. She had created this mess all those years ago; it would be her that rectified it. That was providing that the ever changing moods of the other woman allowed Raya to live that long.

A lock of brown hair shimmered in the growing darkness, and Raya found herself sobbing, gazing through her hair at a moving picture of herself and her sisters, bright shining stars that glanced out at her from the safety of their polished frame. A slight flit in the corner, and Raya narrowed her watery eyes, shaking her head. A young strawberry blonde stood at the edge of the picture, looking lost, and innocent.

Raya didn't remember her being there when the picture was taken. Frowning, her tears slowing to a trickle, she wiped at her eyes, moving to the mantle to pick up the picture frame, gazing deep into it, golden eyes searching.

The strawberry blonde looked away from Raya as soon as she grabbed the frame, but the look on her own young face was sick and pained. Staring down at herself, Raya gasped as her picture self mouthed "Help me."

Dropping the picture frame, she stumbled away from the picture, but not before the flash of green eyes darkened with a look of hunger held hers.

"Melody?"

"Hermione." The answer was a feeling, more than a sound. A press of intuition that let Hermione know that she'd found the tiny clairvoyant. Opening her eyes to the dark vastness that was the ethereal plane, she stared around her, searching for the light that would allow her to know that Melody was hiding in amongst all this darkness.

A flicker of movement at the corner of her eye caused her to turn.

"Hermione." The mind-voice was raspy, dark, and not at all like the light voice of Melody Malfoy. "Hermione…"

Moving back, Hermione's eyes searched the darkness for the source of that voice, that press of cloying wetness that smothered everything around her. Stepping back again, she shook her head as a figure detached itself from the darkness. A figure that was familiar, yet twisted, misshapen. A figure that Hermione knew all too well.

"Lucius?" Her voice betrayed her anxiety at meeting the errant Malfoy King here in the place that she knew like the back of her own hand, a place she had trained in, had felt safe and confident in, until this moment.

The figure shuffled to her, and the smell of rotting flesh and cloying sickly-sweet of dark magick made her gag. Backing away, she gave a small cry when she realized that she was trapped. Breathing quickly, sharply, she tried to escape.

"Hermione…" It stopped a hands breadth from her, a twisted, dark claw catching her out-thrown hand, pulling her toward it.

Screaming, Hermione lashed out, her magick bright against the darkness, illuminating the Lucius-creature that had her pinned. Grey eyes stared out from a face that was twisted with pain, grey eyes that held her as pinned as his hand did. She gagged again, a look of disgust softening to pity as the eyes filled with tears.

"Save him, and her. Please. For me, for all of us. For Melody." And then he was gone, as if he had never been there. Only the scent of death and decay that had clung to him lingered in the oppressive air.

Raya brushed the soot off her body, carefully keeping her face turned to the ground, trying to hide the anger that flashed in her bloodshot eyes. Her body stiffened as she heard the shuffling of feet. Feet that had been broken and healed wrong.

"Raya?" The voice was raspy, older, but she would not ever forget that voice. It held the doom of earth in the deep baritone, and a sarcastic edge that could cut deeper than a sharp knife. "Has the errant elemental returned to Our Lady at last?"

Lifting her eyes and keeping her face neutral, Raya replied in a cool tone. "Malachi, how refreshing to gaze upon your lovely features once more."

The man gave a soft smile to Raya, one that spoke of things that were once of nightmares. He was as beautiful as he had been the last time Raya had seen him, when she was made aware that she was just a child and unworthy of his attentions. That had been hard to swallow, when she was younger. He was just a few inches taller than she, tall, dark, and beautiful with a rangy body that shone in the firelight like a statue cut from the most glorious obsidian. Broad shoulders and chest tapered down to a small waist and hips, long, lean muscles moved under his skin like the muscles of a cat prepared to pounce.

But it was his eyes that had always captured her attention. She had never seen anyone with bicolored eyes, golden and green sunbursts that stared out from his ebony face, settled on high cheekbones and framed by dark brows that swept back from a Romanesque nose that flared just a bit too much in the nostril. Full lips wore a smirk that was infamous the world 'round. At least, infamous in the circles that Lilith traveled.

"Oh, Raya, your silvered tongue has ever allowed sweet nothings to fall on my tender ear." He swept back his dark hair, showing an ear that had a slight blush to it, and Raya rolled her eyes. "See, thou hast won my hear through thine divine words, my sweet love!"

"Malachi, knock it off. I've come to see your sister. She has something of mine, and I wish it returned." Raya turned on her heel, only to feel a vice-like grip on her upper arm, spinning her back around.

"I see you've been a busy little girl since we last seen each other, my sweet." Malachi's voice was dark, low, and throaty. His eyes wore a possessive look that made Raya shiver despite herself. "A very busy girl. I never thought you the kind to want children, Raya Trenton. I am rarely wrong."

"I was just a child when you turned me away, Malachi. I've done a lot of growing up since then."

"So I see, Raya, so I see."

Hermione gasped, clawing at her throat as she rose off the bed, her body burning so bright that Ron hissed and hid his eyes, cursing. Spluttering and coughing, Hermione rolled off the bed, landing on her knees in the middle of the bedroom floor.

A soft moan came from the now-asleep form of Melody, as Hermione scrambled around on the floor, gasping, trying to regain her breath.

"Hermione, are you alright?"

She jerked at Ron's voice, then looked down at her arm, her breath wheezing as she saw a red handprint, there on her skin. A handprint that looked suspiciously like a handprint bruise that Lucius had left on her.

Her voice was panicked as she looked at Ron. "I'm going to faint now. Don't worry." And the world went black.

A/N: huggles the lovely Lord Elrond of Hogwarts ! Hey! How have you been? Thank you for reviewing! More about Liz and Charlie soon, I promise!